Two reasons why Mushayavanhu must answer the ‘fuel...

Two reasons why Mushayavanhu must answer the ‘fuel in ZiG’ question

Tinashe Murapata

The fuel in ZiG is an ethical question on two fronts

1. Every business in Zimbabwe is forced to accept ALL currencies for trading purposes except Fuel Industry. The retail and distribution sector was the worst hit, whereupon it had to accept ZWL at official exchange rate when the street rates was miles higher. This is equally so with businesses that import products 100%, by law they must accept both currencies. The fuel exception under John 1 was clear enough because John 1 never claimed to anchor his ZWL in gold. John 1 was clear that we have forex shortages and it was important to ration the little USD. While the fuel exemption was dubious it was understandable under the circumstances. John 2 is in conflict of interest because

(a) as governor he has claimed anyone who wants forex can simply walk in a bank and pay the going price - this claim can only fly if tested. The testing cannot have blanket exemptions like fuel otherwise the claim itself is not true. And

(b) he owns a fuel company - the largest by volumes and his protection of the fuel industry is seen as self interest. The governor “ndiye abika” ZiG and made all sorts of claims. Nobody forced him to make these claims, he did so freely but goes ahead and protects the industry in which he has an interest. By not addressing this conflict the governor loses the trust and confidence.

2. The fuel industry doesn’t even accept Nostro but only USD cash. Under John 1, this was dubious but understandable. The fuel industry by accepting only USD cash is invariably making a claim about Nostro. It doesn’t trust Nostro. John 2 is now a public official sitting at the apex of the monetary system. He can’t claim ZiG is anchored in gold yet fuel can’t even be bought in Nostro. How is it possible that gold can’t buy fuel? Surely he can see the conflict of interest between his claims and what his business interest believe is true USD; ie only USD cash is REAL USD.

Tinashe Murapata is an Entrepreneur, Economist, podcaster, essayist and CEO of an investment holding company based in Zimbabwe. You can follow his economic analysis on X @baba_nyenyedzi