Supermarkets, Councils, Chocking Under "Artificial" ZiG Rate
6 months agoSat, 31 Aug 2024 10:14:00 GMT
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor David Coltart has called for Zimbabwe to either abandon the ZiG or exclusively adopt the US dollar and the Rand, citing significant losses incurred by local authorities and supermarkets due to exchange rate disparities.
In a post on his X page, Coltart highlighted the issues stemming from the use of an official exchange rate (US$1: ZiG13.80) compared to a street rate (US$1: ZiG24), which has led to financial losses for businesses forced to operate under the official rate.
The CCC councillor added that aside from abandoning the ZiG in favour of the USD and ZAR, the only viable alternative for Zimbabwe is to allow the ZiG to float freely without artificial rate manipulation.
Coltart’s remarks follow reports that TM Pick n Pay has permanently closed its Harare Street branch. He wrote:
Last night I had dinner with a Bulawayo supermarket owner and he told me of his inability to compete with the informal sector – unlike the informal sector he has to pay taxes, rates and his staff – but most of all he is compelled to sell his goods at the official ZIG rate.
He is buying the same goods he has to sell at the official ZIG from manufacturers who sell to him with impunity at the ZIG parallel rate.
Informal traders can come to his supermarket and buy the same goods in ZIG having burned their US$ and who then sell the same for US$ at a lower price in US$ than the supermarket can sell it for, thus totally undercutting the supermarket, right outside its doors.
He doesn’t know whether he can continue – and at the root of this all is the government’s insistence that the ZIG be artificially kept at a value which bears no relation to its actual value. Tied to this is seemingly one law for retailers and another for manufacturers.
The City of Bulawayo isn’t exempt from this either. The City is forced to accept payment of rates at 13.80 at present when the real rate in the streets is 24. This is further undermining the balance sheet and general finances of Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe has been down this path created by insane policies far too often.
I have said repeatedly that a new Zimbabwean currency should only be introduced when trust in the RBZ and Ministry of Finance has been restored. It had not been when ZIG was introduced and trust has been further undermined since its introduction.
We have no choice but to abandon the ZIG again and revert to either the US$ or Rand. If we do not entire swathes of industry and the retail sector will be destroyed. The only other option is to allow the ZIG to float freely without artificial manipulation of its rate.
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74 Comments
Xx · 6 months ago
Zig is here to stay iwe mayor, kana sahwira wako azvitadza ngaarove pasi.
Pasi ne mhanduu
theLastAntKing · 6 months ago
as long as we're not exporting, the industry is operating at its lowest like this, Zimbabwe will introduce & reintroduce a zim dollar cousin & 2nd generation of nephews but all will fail.
Maybe if you let the zig fight for its existence on the markets maybe it'll survive
@Vhedza · 6 months ago
A total failure in one's head, it's true but actually who determine the exchange rate? Is Zimbabwe a lawless country? So then why do we go against the law? If we believe in us being the masters of our destiny, does our destiny controlled by foreign money? Aah ngatiite MUSHE!
oh shame · 6 months ago
go and try to pay your dstv, starlink , fuel etc with zig and then come back and tell us what happened when you have tried this stunt... or better still take your zig into a tuck shop across the border and try to buy something there, i think you will come back with same story ... shame you will come back empty handed except for your zig
Water Chock Chock · 6 months ago
water, water, i need water... im chocking argh chock chock ...
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Two issues I have here... The economy cannot be rigged... All the shameful guys disrespecting the mayor... ****s... Reality is always hard to acc
ZIG is a total failure... Go e are the days where Zimbabweans will be hoidwinked... Those campaigning for the zig are the very ones benefitting from corruption it comes with... The are the guys who sell zesa at bank rate and change the US $ to ZIG at balxkmrket rate.. These ar the ones who manipulated the market to create a artificial bread shortage... So they rather criticise the mayor and call him racist in the hope their corrupt schemes never come to light... Evil prevails when good men do Nothing... A message to Mr Mayor Coltart.. Every 5 years a new administration of council comes in.. Unfortunate your acokunts department is in a mess... billing is a terrible mess and the previous accounts admin allowed residents bills to be pegged at blarkmarket rates then changed everything to usd at blckmarket rates... Fix the accounts Bcc
gg · 6 months ago
Whatever comments you can make, there is no going back on ZWG. Mark my words, very soon we are going to dump US$ whether you like it or not. If Zim is to collapse by using ZWG, let it be so.
Corruptmore Looto · 6 months ago
🥱🥱🥱 This is now a Cliché my guy, heard this too many times before but each and every time we had too dump the reintroduced useless currencies
ED · 6 months ago
iwewe ndiwe unotopengawo zvako
muZim tokuzivai muchidumper currency yenyu kwete USD
this country had self dollarised so it is difficult to dedollarise
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Because you have externalised all your USD, so you don't care how it turns out?
gg · 6 months ago
Some people are very insane. How can the value of a local currency be determined by black market rate? This is nonsense? Coltat must be chased away from this country. I think Govt must take a bold stance and dump the multicurrency system and use local currency only. If they want to close their businesses let them do so. We are tired of being abused by these so- called businesses. This is the only chance we have to adopt our own currency.
Corruptmore Looto · 6 months ago
🤣🤣 Maguta nemanhanga kaa makukanganwa 2008. They know that they cannot make such a reckless move unless they want all the Supermarkets to stock on Maputi once again 😅😅. As long as firms keep on struggling to access forex on the formal channels then don't expect the black market to disappear anytime soon, in fact it will only get stronger.
ED · 6 months ago
ko tengai ka fuel neZIG
gvt yenyu iyi
musaita hudununu imi
Anonymous · 6 months ago
It's not the so-called businesses that are abusing us - its those other people who think their brains work well and their hands are always in their pockets. Of course you know them. gg - dream on!
mbocho · 6 months ago
kkjk but nhai Va Coltart asi Bulawayo inotongwa nekyiswa mtemo mu street ?
· 6 months ago
let's be real there is no point in defending chinhu chisiko. lam yet to come across zig racho ririko here or rinongowqnika mtv nemaradio
Erudite · 6 months ago
@ Anonymous I see your autism or dyslexia is getting the better of you...You seem intent on still calling me Erudied a name which makes neither grammatical or comedic sense.... Dyslexia can be managed my fellow sentient being even though at this point I am starting to think you are barely sentient....Coltart is a slimy grotesque sasquatch who has no idea what he is talking about and thinks just because of something as arbitrary as his skin colour we should all worship at his alter ...So yes if by touching a nerve you mean he got my attention due to his usual racist rhetoric and white savior infused tweets.I guess after you have matured a bit you will understand...For now keep taking that Adderall so that you deal with your myriad of mental health issues and maybe one day you will be able to type my name properly...It is not that hard after all... Erudite out
@Erudied · 6 months ago
for sme1 who considers themselve learned wakadhakwa..jus bcoz u don't have facts u can't jus present your argument without insulting.
Corruptmore Looto · 6 months ago
Uhmm wangu, shortcut yenyu inotikwadza iyi, sme1 =someone, 😅😅 Haa iyi l didn't know about it 😃😃
Erudite · 6 months ago
Why should I care about the opinion of a clearly deranged ignoramus like you think about me???... Because of your myriad of mental health issues you still cannot type a simple word😂😂😂😂...The dyslexic mong population is not my target audience since I find them utterly repugnant and not worthy of my time .."u can't jus present your argument without insulting"😂😂😂😂 that statement alone riddled with grammatical abominations should show you that you are not yet ready to joust with the Erudite..I am failing to see where I have insulted Coltart unless you consider pointing out his racist tendencies as insults...I have no time for sanity bereft individuals like you so please stay the hell away from me....Your mere presence on my comments triggers my gag reflex... Erudite out
Erudite · 6 months ago
Nothing to see here just a clearly out of touch pasty white man talking down to black people...It is a crying shame that in the year of 2024 this gombeen is trying his damnedest to live up to the white savior trope 🚮...Mr Coltart with all due respect shut the fück up with your basic grasp of economics...Coltart is living proof that white people can get away with mediocrity...His track record in politics is atrocious and even during his tenure as Minister of Education his greatest asset was just being white...This white privilege is what allowed him to source textbooks from Westen countries which with the benefit of hindsight have proven to be about as useful as a comb to Pep Guardiola...Coltart is busy suggesting failed experiments which led to deflation and crippling of industries...The ZiG is here to stay and no amount of hatred from ethically bankrupt characters like Coltart will stop that....The ZiG unlike the word chocking is a real entity ... Erudite out
@Erudied · 6 months ago
is coltard a supermarket
007 · 6 months ago
bankrupt.. coltart.... munozviwanepiko izvii nhai muzeyamwa ngatisangorotomoke zvatisingaxive just 4 the sack of commenting
Erudite · 6 months ago
@ 007 Yes Coltart is ethically bankrupt as evidenced by his disingenuous comments which have a worrying element of racism...This is the same Coltart by the way got his a.r.s.e handed to him by Jonathan Moyo after he had tried to racially abuse him...No supermarket is " chocking" as "chocking" is not a real phenomenon but rather a construct of a feeble minded journalist... Erudite out
ED · 6 months ago
uyu anorwara uyu
anotaura zvaasingazive
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Better bankrupt than the looting guys.... you're **** really ****
Anonymous · 6 months ago
You Erudied, you are mentally bankrupt. Shame on you. Coltart touched a nerve didn't he. You must be one of those burning at the expense of the population.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Coltart is talking nonsense. Why should Zim buy U$ (oh yes they are bought and sold) only to use them as domestic currency. How do you measure the value of local products in U$ if they are not for export?
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Choking!!!!!
Don't believe allyou see ans read
Muteyi · 6 months ago
Zim will never develop infrastacturary and economically without its own currency, eg ZA ,Angola, Kenya all are doing well. It's high time Zimbos eradicate this colonial mentality!
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Colonial mentality paeconomics ,that word doesn't work.Zig is going down the drain neblack market.If we had measures to control the black market .
Anonymous · 6 months ago
How do you develop infrastructure with a currency that doesn't actually exist and back it with something nobody can see. Kenyans are doing well, because they do not employ command economics. Finance is not a colonial mentality. It only shows your incompetence more brightly because it cannot be fooled and cannot be manipulated over a long period of time in Zimbabwe's case. You cannot build a business when gangs are constantly taking money out of the tills for things that have no return or opportunity for growth on investment. It is the same basic principle in government.
wake up zim · 6 months ago
they want zig to have some value by holding on to it kkkk it will lose value risina kana kushanda
🏃Chi baby Che Zanu 🌊 · 6 months ago
zve zig kutaura chokwadi zvaramba ko tikangosiyana nazvo pachiri pedo all zanupf policies it's a must they fail
Chocky Choke choke · 6 months ago
Headline "Supermarkets, Councils, Chocking Under "Artificial" ZiG Rate" lets hope they are not Choking ... kkkk
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Chok chok
44yrs · 6 months ago
Unilever packed and go. I heard also that TM Pick and Pay is closing one of its branches if this is true hope the government is not aware of this situation
Anonymous · 6 months ago
They can go. Other retailers will fill in the vacant space.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
That shows you incompetence, they were manufacturers, not retailers. Runners don't promote exports, the reduce them.
MHSRIP · 6 months ago
Sorry to hear the death of former president son Chatunga in Bubb this morning hope the state could intervene for funeral procedures
Peter Bvirakare · 6 months ago
Is this true I read that he was arrested yesterday at a roadblock on way to Beit Bridge?????
Ngwena · 6 months ago
Pamberi na Comrade Chatunga,✊✊✊
· 6 months ago
zig chimari chema civil servants isu vanhu chaivo toshandisa USD
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Ras vekuimba zig Mari vakawanda vehicle for free hachishande chi Zig zag
😭 · 6 months ago
boe hre pa mame mame apo
@Erudied · 6 months ago
patiently waiting for erudieds **** comment kkkk
Erudite · 6 months ago
It must be a miserable existence for you being a mongoloid who desperately hopes for the day his lord and savior the Erudite blesses him with undeserved clout... Now I have to give your pitiful existence some meaning just so that I can break you down....I know deep down you want to type my name correctly but due to the myriad of mental health issues that you have ranging from simple cognitive impairment to straight up retardation you are unable to do so....I understand even mongoloids like you deserve to be treated with respect so call me Erudied all you want , even subhuman mongoloids like you deserve compassion.... However from now on please stay in your lane with fellow loonies , gargoyles and repugnant ghouls like yourself....I am a paragon of black excellence and renaissance personified while you my friend are nothing more than a barely sentient face adjacent vacuum of sanity.... Erudite out
Corruptmore Looto · 6 months ago
Here we go again, right round the Zimbabwean economic ferris wheel of chaos 😅😅
🤪 · 6 months ago
If we go on chewing the cud on fiscal issues, WE DO NOT GET ANYWHERE, SIMPLE! regai zvimbo gadzikana, but I think the only flaw the government partook, was to introduce ZiG amid El nino sanctions and drought
Mutare Water Aplenty · 6 months ago
🤣🤣🤣🤣 What El nino, sanctions and drought, are you serious my guy 🤣🤣. That has nothing to do with ZiG failure, Coltart put in correctly only trust in the RBZ, Ministry of Finance and largely the Government will solve this currency mess. We all know too well what happened in the 2000s, we aren't falling for that same trick once again
1
Sir African · 6 months ago
The madness that struck the resident of the State House is that he is preparing his children's life by making a nest of USDs .If it were not so he would have banned the use of USDs and made the Zig Zag the sole currency for all transactions.If one remits USDs to a person lingered for the best of RSA ,the bank in RSA would pay out Rand to the beneficiary. The same applies to the UK, send USDs the beneficiary will be paid in pounds.Its only this country that has mental ill leadership that think Zig zag can compete with USD.
Greed got the best of our leaders.
🏃♀️ Chi baby Che Zanu 🌊 · 6 months ago
ZiG is there to stay
Bonga Hwenje · 6 months ago
but it will not work
Antman · 6 months ago
😂😂😂😂😂😂 Says someone who enjoys exploiting cheap supermarket products after speculating their USD to ZiG using a rate of 24/26 per dollar
· 6 months ago
@Chipfambi cheZANU, I remember you parroting the same about the Bond.
Please don't waste space with your very tired slogans
...,. · 6 months ago
I cannot imagine having no Lever Brothers in Workington, I cannot imagine having no TM in Harare Street. Can someone who can be listened to please tell the country's policymakers that their decisions are leading to Zimbabwe shutting down. Even if they think of personally taking over the closing businesses, the businesses will still not survive under their policies.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Drive along the highways and see for yourself the poverty in the resettled farmers who irocally have been allocated land so close to the roads so that we see their poor shanty accommodation, blair toilets, unproductive land, children covered in dust with torn clothes etc. I wonder who is making the space allocation policies, and you wonder the chaos that would ensue if government decides to one day widen or dualise those roads. Driving along the highways is now boring. It used to be a very refreshing experience, seeng lots of trees lining the roads.
2
Anonymous · 6 months ago
The mud houses .and the fishmongers selling their loot on those dilapidated infrastructure
· 6 months ago
@anonymous, vachirima Sora beans paimborimwa Soya beans! 🤣🤣🤣
1Anonymous · 6 months ago
Supermarkers that peg their prices on zig are profittering both from zig buyers and usd buyers. The will display their usd zig rate openly ss 14.7 for example. However, they will inflate the zig price, which in turn inflates the correspondung usd price . The zig inflation is meant to protect them from exchangevrate losses but what now happens is it also affects the usd price because they will simply calculate it using officiial rate for fear of prosecution if they use a higher rate to protect the usd price. . So both usd and zig customers end up paying a premium. Eg a lotion that would normally go for an average of usd$4 in a big supermarket(you know the 2 giants) can be given a proce tag of zig83. When a customer says he is paying in usd, they simply divide that zig83 by 14.7, which results in a highly inflated price of $5.60, which is more of a blatant reap off.
Antman · 6 months ago
Just to point something out on that 5.60 tbey will give you cash discount when using USD possible it will go down to USD5.00 though its still a bit high
· 6 months ago
Kana une USD unopindirei muma big shops better kutenga Kuma small shops vanotambira USD chete zvinhu zvavo zvinenge zvakachipa.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
You nailed it. This is what Pick n Pay is doing. This is why customers prefer tuckshops. Tuckshops simply charge their goods in USD, and if you want to use ZiG, they convert the USD price using the parallel market rate. Those using USD will benefit, unlike when prices are pegged in inflated ZiG prices & then converted to USD using the official exchange rate. Supermarkets doing that are simply shooting themselves in the foot. Customers will simply go to tuckshops. But then, it's not their fault because they're being forced to sell their goods in ZiG & use official exchange rates if a customer is using USD.
Some shops have come up with some discounts to customers paying with USD. These discounts will bring down the USD price to the normal market USD level, or the same USD price being charged by tuckshops. Clever way to survive.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
Coltart is a bloody fool. He knows nothing about finance. Does he think it is thsat simple? Why should Zimbabwean pay over the odds for products, simply to satisfy the addiction to U$. Do tomatoes and Onion taste bettee because they have been bought in U$. U$ should remain a reserve currency, for the purposes of international trade. to make the economy grow. What ZImbabwe is doing in like roasting seeds.
Bonga Hwenje · 6 months ago
u're out of touch with reality iwe ne**** reasoning capacity yako mbwa iwe,do u own anything ungataure dho'dho pakadai
Anonymous · 6 months ago
It is plain to see you are out of touch. You cannot replace you stocks in your shops with less money that what you sold the products for. That's basic finance. Government is happy for businesses to close. That is their mission. North Korea, here we come, our politicians want to be just like you. Command economics because all businesses are run by politicians and their families. A dynastic leadership who rule for life. Rampant poverty whilst politicians run around in the latest cars and eat the most expensive foods in the world. Pouring champagne on their thousands of USD watches.
Anonymous · 6 months ago
You are the fool
Anonymous · 6 months ago
You are the ****
