(GIN)—With exports down and scarce dollars hidden away under pillows, banks in Zimbabwe are running out of legal tender.
Some ATMs have been shuttered, leaving minimum-wage workers, normally paid in cash, with IOUs as employers struggle to withdraw notes.
“We’re importing more than we’re exporting, and we can’t print money because we use mainly the U.S. dollar,” explained Sam Malaba, CEO of the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe.
In a bid to relieve the cash shortage, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gov. John Mangudya announced the printing of “bond notes”—usable within the country but worthless outside—to begin circulating in two months.
The new currency is widely rejected as “monopoly money” by the population.
“It’s zombie money, made from nothing,” complained Fredmore Kupirwa, who sells sodas, canned food and cornmeal from his shop in Mvurwi, north of the capital. “I pay my suppliers in dollars, but if my customers pay me in this stupid currency, how can I restock?”
It’s the second blow to small traders who were hard hit by new import restrictions prohibiting the importation of goods normally bought for resale, including Cremora (coffee creamer), white petroleum jellies, canned fruits, yogurts, shoe polish, second hand tires and synthetic hair products.
Simiso Moyo, who bought in bulk from South Africa for resale at her stall in Bulawayo, faces an uncertain future. She foresees a repeat of this month’s walkout, caused by late paychecks to soldiers, police officers, doctors and teachers, when and if the bond notes arrive.
A major voice of the growing unrest is 39-year-old Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire, who took to Twitter when he was unable to withdraw money from banks to pay his children’s school fees.
“The [government] has stolen our money,” he said without hesitation. “It is out of touch with the problems we have. It must begin to listen to the people and stamp out the corruption which has crippled our economy. The international community cannot help us if we do not help ourselves.”
Mawarire’s Twitter feed, called #thisflag, has drawn a large audience.
“Today is another day when citizens continue to shout and scream to their government: enough is enough,” he tweeted. Since #thisflag, other social media feeds have popped up, including Tajamuka—“We refuse” in Zimbabwe’s Shona language—which launched spontaneous demonstrations in the last month.
Popular discontent has been downplayed by government officials, who blame Western embassies and opposition leaders for creating anarchy. But prospective protestors were warned that “all sim cards in Zimbabwe are registered in the name of the user” and anyone making offensive or subversive statements on social media can be easily identified.
ON MADIBA’S BIRTHDAY, A CALL TO REFLECT AND VOLUNTEER
(GIN)—“Nelson Mandela International Day,” formalized by the U.N. General Assembly in November 2009, recalls the former South African president’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom on his birthday, July 18.
It comes as Americans reflect on a wrenching week of race-related violence and the undeniable evidence of the persistence of intolerance that Mandela devoted his life to oppose.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation promotes acts of service to humanity July 18 in his honor.
In December 2015, the General Assembly extended the scope of Nelson Mandela International Day to raise awareness about persons in detention and to call for humane treatment of the incarcerated.
In South Africa, the 7th annual Bikers for Mandela Day will take the call for service to remote areas.
“We have crossed over 12,000 kilometers since the inception of this initiative in 2010 and assisted over 20 charitable organizations through Bikers for Mandela Day. We look forward to paying tribute to Madiba’s unwavering legacy once again. We believe that every small action of goodwill leads to a larger movement in the right direction,” said organizer Zelda la Grange, formerly Mandela’s personal secretary.
In 2015, UN staff volunteers in New York partnered with GreenThumb, East New York Farms and the UN Food Garden to plant seedlings, pull weeds and water plant beds in community gardens across the city.
In Geneva, the Permanent Mission of South Africa and Serve the City Geneva have mobilized volunteers to help the poor and marginalized in the city.
Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, speaking to students this month at the Dr. Mathole Motshekga Primary School in Tembisa, said, “Mandela Day gives us a way to energize our collective commitment, and it helps to know you are not doing this alone—there are millions of us. This helps build the movement of doing something good for someone else, selflessly caring for others, and remind ourselves that we belong to a global, human family.”
Also in South Africa, “RACE (against time),” a song against racism written and coproduced by Katlego Maboe, David Harmse and Ntokozo Mkhize, will raise money for Anti-Racism Network South Africa.
Developed by The Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada Foundations, it takes a thoughtful look at the roots of racism.
Maboe explains the title of the single: “There is a deliberate play on words. The issue of race is a matter of urgency for all of us and we all stand to lose and suffer the consequences if we don’t solve the problem in time.”
For more about the single, go to www.mitracks.fm/preorder/race-against-time.