Friday 14 November, 1997 was the day the
Zimbabwe dollar died. That day may not signify
anything to many. Yet for Zimbabweans
worldwide it was the day their currency lost
value so fast that that there was little time for
the ink to dry on the notes. In fact on that very
day very few took any notice that something
was amiss. Citizens went about their business
totally oblivious of what was happening.
If the truth be told, what made the headline
news was a two headed snake that had been
discovered in some office. In a part of Africa
given to superstition, one would have
speculated that this was an omen, the
harbinger of doom for the 'Zim-Kwacha' that
lost a record 71.5% against the US dollar
starting a series of cataclysmic events that
culminated in the printing of a One hundred
trillion dollar note more than a decade later in
2009.
It was incredible and it read more like a joke.
However, millions of Zimbabweans discovered it
wasn't when they went to their banks to
withdraw money from their accounts. Let us
stop here and rewind a bit.
The real causes of Black Friday, as it came to
be known, pointed straight at the door of
government. As with most of the ruling party's
campaign gimmicks, that have proven to be
destructive, President Robert Mugabe decided
to award unbudgeted payments to war
veterans of the liberation struggle. Secondly,
the country became involved in a very costly
civil war in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC).
It was the straw that broke the camel's back
when in direct reaction to fiscal irresponsibility,
multilateral organizations such as the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund cut
the apron strings leaving Zimbabwe's economy
on an unprecedented free-fall.
An ominous sign, if one would call it that, was
the gradual appearance of women from the
apostolic faith identifiable by their white frocks
and head scarves in the streets of Harare and
Bulawayo and dealing in foreign currency. It
should be noted that prior to this the same
women were known more for selling mangoes
and other tropical fruit than hard currency.
Soon an activity that was exclusively conducted
in the secure air conditioned chambers of
commercial banks had been moved lock, stock
and barrel into the crowded and littered streets
where pound sterling, United States dollars,
South African rand and Botswana pula was
bartered and sold the same way they would
roasted groundnuts.
Shockingly, the authorities looked aside as the
mass of commercial banks and foreign
exchange bureaus, registered by a government
bitten by the so-called indigenisation bug,
legitimised the street trade by shunting the
little that was trickling into the banking system
into the informal system. Companies joined in
the fray speculating and playing around with
the exchange rate to gain supra profits.
As this was happening, ordinary Zimbabweans
lulled into a sense of false security, crowded
the pubs and churches in veneration of their
gods. That was until they stopped by the banks
to withdraw their hard earned money. The
shock of being informed by trusted custodians
of their accounts that 'in principle' there was
something in them but in reality could not
withdraw was hard to bear.
There simply was no warning at all nor was
there the rare opportunity to run on the banks
like once occurred in Argentina. A free for all
that would clean the vaults out by the lucky
ones perhaps. Not in this case. Clients were
confronted with a sign on the door informing
them that there would be no withdrawals 'until
further notice.'
One is reminded of one of those business
studies or commerce lessons where students
were warned about the perils of keeping
money under a stone, in a tin in the garden or
under the pillow.
There even was a story doing the rounds of a
bank robber who buried his loot in the bush
before he was arrested and jailed for his crime.
When he had done his time ten years later he
was shocked to find a sprawling residential
suburb on the spot where he had stashed it. 'It
was here!' he tried to tell bemused passers-by
to no avail. Now the joke was on them.
How they wished they had ignored that advice.
Unlike the typical of African economies, that
tore the economic form book to pieces,
Zimbabwe was about to rewrite it.
