Multi-currency system meant to protect people

hyperinflation that had become uncontrollable as a result of the illegal sanctions imposed on the country by Western countries.

In its manifesto for the July 31 harmonised elections launched by President Mugabe last week, Zanu-PF said the strategic adoption of the multi-currency system on January 29, 2009 was clear evidence that the party had the capacity to rise to any challenge in defence of the people’s goals.

“Zanu-PF introduced the (multi-currency) system to protect the people from the effects of the collapse of the Zimdollar that had been precipitated by the runaway hyperinflation which had become a potent tool of illegal regime change,” reads the party manifesto.

“While Zanu-PF is clear that the collapse of the Zimdollar was a shameful development not worthy of celebration, its strategic replacement with the United States dollar as the leading legal tender to serve Zimbabwe in a basket of multi-currencies is in effect poetic justice given that the same US dollar had been used to kill the Zimdollar by merchants of regime change in their vain hope of killing Zimbabwe.”

The revolutionary party said it had the ‘strategic’ vision and ideologically “stomached” the use of the US dollar to provide a practical and viable monetary foundation for economic recovery.

“The recovery is currently under way and will be intensified over the next five years through the indigenisation and people’s economic empowerment programme,” the manifesto reads.

The party said if it wins the election, the Zimdollar would only bounce back after it has worked “out the necessary fiscal and monetary modalities and time frame for bringing it back to function along with the multi currency system”.

Key stakeholders in the economy and financial sector, Zanu-PF said, would be consulted first before the re-introduction.
“Among other things, this will be done to enable the majority of people who have been negatively affected by the liquidity pressures of the multi-currency system to fully participate in the national economy by doing their transactions in a normal way.”

During the launch of the manifesto, President Mugabe said he had already held discussions with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono on the modalities of introducing a gold-backed currency, a system which is internationally accepted and has been in existence since ancient times.

The concept of a gold-backed currency is anchored on the premise that the central bank holds a large amount of gold in relation to the value of its currency.
Zimbabwe has extensive gold deposits across the breadth of the country and much of it is still unexplored.

Zanu-PF also said that it signed the Global Political Agreement in September 2008 with the goals of the people in mind.
“The strategic signing of the GPA by Zanu-PF which was wrongly seen by political amateurs as a statement of capitulation, contributed immensely to Zanu-PF’s commitment to promote peace, unity, non-violence, tolerance and stability that was necessary in the country given the volatile political tensions of the time,” read the manifesto.

“The GPA has enabled Zanu-PF to prove its leadership qualities, political maturity and governance experience while it has also exposed the political immaturity, ideological bankruptcy, policy inexperience, corruption, sexual scandals and the incapacity to govern of the MDC formations whose officials have used the GPA to show their true colours by abandoning the people in pursuit of selfish interest.”