Chronicle Editor
Stephen Mpofu
OUR beloved motherland, Zimbabwe, has just embarked on a brave new way financially and economically and so it behoves on every unflinching patriotic Zimbabwean to shepherd this nation along the bold new path into brave new futures leaving no gaping or hidden pothole along the way.
Yes, you guessed well, about this discourse dealing with the just-introduced ZiG, the Zimbabwe gold-backed currency now finding its way into commerce and industry with Western imperialist sanctions being perpetually shoved into the shade.
In a recent insert in these columns, this pen expressed fear that Western enemies that impose economic sanctions in a clearly foiled bid to remove Zanu-PF from power had hope that the severely eroded power of the Zimbabwean dollar would serve as the last straw in the ouster of the revolutionary party from power.
Some of the enemies of our Government which rode into power on the back of an armed revolution must no doubt have loathed the film star, James Bond, and so must have sworn to the devil to remove a government associated with the name of the Zimbabwean foreigner from present and future history.
Contrast to Zimbabwe’s tenuous position in the eyes of imperialists with, for instance, the firm position of one particular Sadc country where people smile all the way to banks and to other businesses because of the stability and popularity of a currency named after a slogan on which they rode during the struggle against colonialism and one that continues silently to anchor their freedom.
Our new currency is synonymous with our Zimbabwean soil in which our God-given natural resource, gold is sheltered.
ZiG is therefore our natural asset on which all financial transactions must be based, as the new currency must also be seen as catalysing unflinching patriotism.
Which therefore justifies a crackdown by the police on money changers especially, and other business dealers who employ their own exchange rates for foreign currency because they are after swelling their own bellies regardless of how the ordinary Zimbabwean navigates life.
It is to be hoped that rural populations who are our country’s majority were sufficiently educated about the introduction of the new currency and the proper exchange rate that must apply in transactions involving foreign currency.
Money-changers have been exposed as culprits intent on extorting money from innocent customers and so they should not be seen playing their game as if our Government has no legal supervisory roles to protect the innocent.
Stiff legal sanctions must therefore be imposed on any saboteurs of the new currency through unauthorised exchange rates.
Of equal significance, Zimbabweans living along our borders to the south must not be exploited by people in neighbouring countries who have enjoyed booming business, one might say, in years gone by demanding that they be paid in foreign currency other than ZiG for the goods they export to our country.
Generally, growth points around the country where business transactions take place should be based on ZiG as payment so that the currency becomes truly national as it has a solid base — gold and other ancillary minerals.
Finally, it should be known to everyone that our country can only proceed into brave new futures along a solid and pothole-less highway with a strong currency such as Zimbabwe Gold if all Zimbabwean patriots guard against saboteurs driven by self, rather than collective, national interests for peace, stability and national harmony.
Online Reporter