Zimbabweans Vow to Press RBZ Governor to Abandon Bond Notes
Maureen Kademaunga, who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria, told VOA Studio 7 that they are doing all this in order to promote democracy in Zimbabwe.
WASHINGTON — Political activists say they will continue to put pressure on central governor John Mangudya to abandon proposed bond notes or coupons set to be introduced next month. The activists, who held a meeting with Mangudya on Wednesday and Thursday to express their dismay over the bond notes, say they will intensify their public protests to ensure that their voices are heard. One of the activists, Maureen Kademaunga, who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria, told VOA Studio 7 that they are doing all this in order to promote democracy in Zimbabwe. She said local people should not use the bond notes in protest against their introduction in a near-comatose economy. “As youth people we are going to be actively campaigning and organizing young people working in the informal sector, our parents who are doing border trading activities and all things like to reject these bond notes. If we do not use them and the market rejects them ... then they are going to become obsolete.” A large number of Zimbabweans are rejecting the bond notes saying they remind them of the local dollar era in which they experienced historic hyperinflation that resulted in the abandonment of the Zimbabwe currency. Mangudya has already indicated that the bond notes are designed to promote exports, which will in turn boost the availability of the United States dollar in Zimbabwe. Local people suspect that the government is bringing in the defunct Zimbabwe dollar through the back door. Subdued production in all sectors and alleged externalization of the American dollar has resulted in serious cash shortages in Zimbabwe.