Zimbabwe: Bond Notes causing stirring issues days after launch!

bond-notes-zim

Not only that the Harare Central Police are using their water-canons on the demonstrators today in the main streets of the capital. The pictures of Bond Notes coming from South Africa have not been enough with the leaked photos online. Therefore the Parliament and Hon. Mnangagwa and Hon. Chinamasa wouldn’t’ answer fellow MPs on their questions about the production of the currency. Secondly a big mining corporation will not start to sell their exported gold from Zimbabwe with bond notes, but continue to trade them with US Currency.

Disclose the Printing:

“Mnangagwa was responding to a question in the National Assembly from Binga North MP, Prince Dubeko Sibanda (MDC-T), who wanted to know if the government would not end up printing bond notes in excess of the $200 million Afrexim Bank facility” (…) “MPs should not be worried because government will restrict itself to the amount of bond notes anchored on the $200 million facility,” he said” (…) “Those of us who feel uncomfortable using bond notes should continue using the United States dollar because bond notes and US dollars are interchangeable. If you have no faith in bond notes, why not continue using the currency that you have faith in?” (…) “Mnangagwa said whenever the RBZ governor deals with monetary policy issues, he has legal authority to transact with other central banks in the world for the benefit of the country” (Langa, 2016).

Still selling gold with US Currency:

“Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (LON:CMCL TSE:CAL) said there will no effect on its payment arrangements following the  recent introduction of bond notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe” (…) “Since the start of 2014, Caledonia has had to sell all gold produced from its 49%-owned Blanket mine to Fidelity Printers and Refiners Limited, a subsidiary of the RBZ” (…) “ So far all sale proceeds have been received within 48 hours of delivery to Fidelity in US dollars at a price which is 98.75% of the London afternoon “fix” on the day after delivery” (Whiterow, 2016).

zim-bond-notes-order-29-11-2016

Current events as well:

It was also supposed to be One United States Dollar to One Zimbabwe Bond Note (1:1). But only days after the price on the black-market because of the lacking funds in the capital and in the nation of the new currency, the trading value is 1.25 to 1 Bond Notes. Together with the allowed taking out 300$ at the ATMs in Harare, but during today the limit where 150$, so the cash-strapped society continues even as the unleashed new currency hitting the streets. At Stanbic Branches outside you could get max 40$ Bond Notes and inside 25$ Bond Notes. So the issues of clearing the economy has apparently not hit yet. The lacking funds and coins are truly a phenomenon that Zimbabwe doesn’t easily shake out of.

So the easy launch and creating trust after the failing economic climate has showed to be hard on the Zanu-PF regime who has been vultures and eating heavy of the plate. That is something they still do and continues with, therefore the public distrust is genuine and expected. President Mugabe tricks cannot salvage this if the Public has no faith in the currency and not even the big bread-winners doesn’t change their cash-flow. The proof is if the major mining corporations and supermarkets don’t use or accept the Bond Notes. If so then the issue of Bond Notes is flawed. That we can hope, because the Bond Notes is just adding debt and giving the economy a fake push that the citizens would pay and not the government themselves. Peace.

posb-zim-statement-01-12-2016

Reference:

Langa, Veneranda – ‘We won’t disclose where bond notes are printed: Mnangagwa’ (01.12.2016) link: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2016/12/01/wont-disclose-bond-notes-printed-mnangagwa/

Whiterow, Phillip – ‘Caledonia Mining says no impact from Zimbabwe’s new bond notes’ (01.12.2016) link: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/169819/caledonia-mining-says-no-impact-from-zimbabwe-s-new-bond-notes-169819.html

Zimbabwe: Cabinet decision on Witch Hunting (29.11.2016)

zim-witch-hunting

Zimbabwe: the launch of the Bond Notes is as hectic as the image of Mugabe’s administration!

askeland-bond-notes-ads

The long term dictator of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has resurfaced his own or the nation own currency. This time the first currency since the devaluation and hyper-inflation, as they of recent years has traded on South African Rand and U.S. Dollars. So the Bond Notes should be possible, but in reality they are a way for the government to take up more loan and sign it off to their citizens instead of settling scores with the international community that the Republic of Zimbabwe; instead the debt and inflation this is supposed to recharge a sinking economy, but with the corruption and embezzlement together with the sanctions have hit the cash-strapped economy.

The Bond Notes are a remedy, but not a believable one, which I have portrayed before; not that the U.S. Dollars and South African Rand’s couldn’t last forever, but this here is just taking up more loans and stifling the citizens with the bill.

bond-notes-from-rsa

Here is the first of day of Bond Notes!  

Bond Notes comes from South Africa:

“So everyone was wondering where this MR BOND NOTE is coming from but we managed to solve that riddle when the notes and coins arrived in Zimbabwe early yesterday aboard an international plane” (…) “The plane had a clearly visible logo, Cavok Air, which is a Ukranian cargo chartered flight company specializing in transporting high-value goods” (…) “Air cargo transportation; DG and special cargo transportation; Cargo charter operations with 24H flight watch; Planning and flight support; Obtaining diplomatic and special permits” (Masasi, 2016)

Bank agreements before the launch:

“The use of bond notes within the multi-currency exchange system which are anchored on the $200 million facility will operate along the same lines as bond coins, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. RBZ said retailers, fuel companies and other businesses had agreed on the use and acceptability of bond notes as a medium of exchange” (…) “The Reserve Bank has engaged and agreed with the Retailers Association of Zimbabwe, fuel companies, representatives of the various business associations and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe on the use and acceptability of bond notes as a medium of exchange in the country,” the bank said” (Chakanyuka, 2016).

Supermarkets in Harare:

“The big supermarkets in Harare – including Pick n Pay and OK Zimbabwe – were not openly willing to accept the bond notes that will also come in $5 denominations, at least for now” (…) “We are waiting for specimens and samples from the Reserve Bank. Maybe we will start accepting the bond notes in the afternoon when we receive the samples,” a manager at an OK Zimbabwe supermarket in Harare told shoppers intending to buy goods using the bond notes” “ (…) ”At Pick n Pay and TM Supermarkets branches in central Harare, the bond notes were also not being accepted. A supervisor told Fin24 that the shop was “yet to get approval to accept the bond notes” (Mataranyika, 2016).

Publicised pictures of Bond Notes, fired!

“POSB unlawfully and without permission, took images of bond notes in its vaults and distributed and publicised the images via social media,” the RBZ said in a statement signed by governor John Mangudya” (…) “The Reserve Bank…has imposed an administrative fine of $500,000 on POSB. The employees of POSB who took, publicised and distributed the images on social media have been dismissed with immediate effect,” the RBZ said” (the Source, 2016).

What have we learned by today is that certain stores doesn’t accept the currency in the midst of the capital where the nation and national assembly set in motion this coins to trade with. Still, the own population doesn’t all accept it. That even the leak a day earlier made certain Reserve Bank employee’s has been fired; the other people who leaked it on the Harare International Airport got away with it seem!

The proof that one Consumer Council has not authority with the top market Supermarkets, that shows the common neglect from the Zimbabwe Government that clearly has more tricks than governance, therefore they not listening to the public will for not releasing this currency and forcing the trade with these monetary policy.

The ones that earns on this is not the Zimbabweans, it is Mugabe and his Zanu-PF the ones that believes otherwise has been sleeping in class and never listen to headmaster. This is the next trick that supposed to clear out the running debt and feed the cronyism that are key to how Zanu-PF is running the country. Peace.  

Reference:

Chakanyuka, Tinomuda – ‘BOND NOTES OUT . . . Reserve Bank sets cash withdrawal limits’ (27.11.2016) link: http://www.thezimbabwedaily.com/top-stories/96352-bond-notes-out-reserve-bank-sets-cash-withdrawal-limits.html

 

Mataranyika, Memory – ‘Zim supermarkets reject new bond notes in early trade’ (28.11.2016) link: http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Retail/zim-supermarkets-reject-new-bond-notes-in-early-trade-20161128

 

Masasi – ‘Bond notes made in South Africa – LEAKED PICTURES SHOW’ (27.11.2016) link:http://masasi.co.zw/bond-notes-made-in-south-africa-leaked-pictures-show/

 

The Source – ‘POSB fined over bond note picture leak, workers sacked’ (28.11.2016) link: http://source.co.zw/2016/11/posb-fined-over-bond-note-picture-leak-workers-sacked/

Zimbabwe introduces new note amid scepticism (Youtube-Clip)

“Here’s a first look at Zimbabwe’s new ‘bond notes’, its own currency equivalent to the US dollar. Authorities hope that issuing $10 million of ‘bond notes’ will ease Zimbabwe’s severe cash crunch, but critics believe it will hit their savings” (TimesLive, 2016)

Zimbabwe: Press Statement on the Introduction of Bond Notes (26.11.2016)

rbz-26-11-2016-p1rbz-26-11-2016-p2

Zimbabwe: Patson Dzamara recounts his abduction and beating

zim-abduction

#ThisFlag Letter on the Bond Notes (07.11.2016)

thisflag-letter-07-11-2016

Zimbabwe: #ThisFlag we are living in a Police State (19.11.2016)

thisflag-police-state-19-11-2016

Zimbabwe: Activists ‘abducted’ as police foil planned anti-Mugabe protests (Youtube-Clip)

“At least six Zimbabwe activists were “abducted” and some of them beaten up as a heavy police presence in Harare prevented planned protests on Friday against President Robert Mugabe’s government. Sylvanos Mudzvova, one of the protest movement leaders, told AFP that fellow activist Patson Dzamara and two others were admitted to hospital after being abducted by unidentified men who dragged them out of their cars” (CCTV Africa, 2016)

Zimbabwe: Effects of drought linger in rural areas, aggravate urban vulnerability (17.11.2016)

maize

Harare, 17 November 2016El Niño-induced drought has led to a serious surge in food insecurity and hunger affecting 40 million people across the southern Africa region. Zimbabwe, one of the countries most affected, is in the midst of the worst drought in 25 years that is projected to affect 5.2 million people including 1.1 million urban dwellers during the first quarter of 2017.

Addressing some 150 participants at the 4 th national multi-stakeholders consultative meeting jointly convened by the Office of the President and Cabinet and the UN System in Zimbabwe today in Harare, the UN Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli said, “As we approach the peak hunger period of the lean season, inadequate funding to the humanitarian response plan will not only curtail the ongoing relief efforts to increase assistance to the most vulnerable in the rural settlements and scale-up assistance in urban areas but also risks reversing the gains made in the development and humanitarian areas thus far.”

Of the $352 million being sought under the Humanitarian Response Plan (April 2016-March 2017), nearly $212 million has been committed, with the current funding gap at $140 million. The committed financial and in kind relief support has allowed the UN and NGOs to reach approximately 1.7 million vulnerable people in over 42 districts with food, cash, agricultural inputs and other lifesaving relief assistance.

The committed resource includes the recently announced additional £40 million by DFID.

Announcing the additional boost which brings the total contribution by the Government of the UK to £55.6 million, Annabel Gerry Head of DFID Zimbabwe said, “The additional support from DFID will provide mobile cash payments to 360,000 vulnerable people up until end of March 2017; cover the cost of screening of 160,000 children for malnutrition; and the cost of treatment for over 12,000 children.”

The ongoing relief response has also been made possible by the generous contributions from USAID, EU-ECHO, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and Denmark. The BRICS nations and others have also supported the relief efforts, including bilateral contributions from China, India and Brazil.

Expressing deep gratitude and appreciation for the generous support from donors, the UN Resident Coordinator said, “sectors such as water, hygiene, and sanitation; education; and protection remain severely underfunded, threatening the country’s hard-won development gains made in these areas over the years.”

The fourth national multi-stakeholder consultative meeting underlined the importance of the drought response to be consistently guided by the universal humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

Senior Principal Director, Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr. O. E. M. Hove said, “Government has made all efforts to import and set a buffer stock of maize to ensure that no citizen starves irrespective of one’s political or other affiliations.” Mr. Hove appreciated the generous support from humanitarian and development partners that are complementing Government’s efforts in response to the prevailing humanitarian challenges and called on all partners to stay the course.

Noting the need to continue and increase joint response to the pressing effects of the worst drought, stakeholders agreed to recalibrate their efforts towards resilience-building, provision of quality social services and protection programmes to ensure strong linkages and eventual transition of those affected by drought to recovery, medium and long-term sustainable development.

Reiterating on the call to planning for the future with focus on building resilience, Mr. Hove said, “to this end the Government of Zimbabwe is implementing a special programme to ensure food security targeting to produce at least two million metric tonnes of maize grain on 400,000ha of which 200,000ha will be irrigated.”

Today’s national multi-stakeholders consultative meeting follows two successful Provincial Drought Response Consultative meetings held in Bulawayo and Harare at the end of September and beginning of November, respectively. The provincial meetings allowed partners to adopt harmonized relief response approach across the Government, UN and NGOs managed assistance for improved targeting, registration, distribution, monitoring and accountability.

Media Contact: Sirak Gebrehiwot, UN Communications Specialist, E-mail: sirak.gebrehiwot@one.un.org;

Cell #: +263 772 198 036