Coffee with ZiG ZaG Mari
If you were having coffee with me, I would welcome you to my corner of the internet and invite you to make yourself at home, the weather has been very weathery of late, its like experiencing all the seasons in one day, winter in the morning, scorching summer at midday, late afternoon thundershowers and freezing nights.
Its been a week since a new currency the ZiG was announced and so far its been mostly chaos and service providers sneaking in increments in prices under the guise of price “conversion”. The hardest hit has been the commuting public where change for commuter fares that normally cost $1 for two passengers, either just bumping up the price to $1 or inventive use of snacks and other nicknacks as “change” or simply pairing off passengers to resolve the change between themselves… Retailers usually just force you to pick extras stuff for your change.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that part of the problem stems from that as soon as they announced the new currency no one wanted anything to do with the old currency… Think of it like a game of musical chairs anyone left holding the old currency notes at the end of the month when the music stops will be left be left with a worthless pile of paper…
Why doesn’t one simply bank the old notes you might be wondering, well for some strange reason the Reserve Bank Governor decided to add a KYC requirement declaring how one came by such money, for anyone depositing over ZWL $100 000 which would be about $3 at the closing interbank rate for the ZWL.
The government has launched blitz operation to arrest those who are refusing to accept the old Zimbabwean dollar notes which remain as legal tender until the end of month… Funny thing is the police who are policing the exercise refuse to accept bribes in the local currency but will happily accept United States Dollars, so what for must happen.?
If you are having coffee with me, I would tell you that Econet mobile telecommunication company introduced “revised” tariffs for their data which is a low key way of saying they increased their prices. Now their prices for data bundles costs more than its cost in the United States Dollar which is a subtle way of saying they prefer you pay for their services in United States Dollars.
An equally strange coincidence is that on the day Econet announced its new pricing structure, Starlink users in Zimbabwe received an email citing that they are using the service in an unregulated territory and the Postal and Telecommunications Regulation Authority has requested that Starlink services be disabled pending an official agreement. Imagine if you had forked out money to acquire a Starlink kit and overnight it threatened to become an expensive paperweight… as we say in Shona “Murombo haarove chinenguwo”
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that shopping in the supermarket is currently an interesting experience everyone is out with their calculators trying to figure out whats going and everyone has this slightly quizzical expression, including the cashiers who just smile as they explain the how the price is the way it is…
If you meet any random Zimbabwe in the street and simply… “Ah these ZiGs!” you will have your ear chewed up as someone narrates their ordeals over the currency conversion. But of course we try to lighten it with a joke and maybe make a catchy jingle…
Whats been going on in the world? I have been so focused on our domestic issues its like you open your eyes and realise maybe that a third world war might not be the distant unlikely to happen event as we tend to think.
Whats been goin on in your neck of the woods?
~B
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?