Chenayi Mutambasere

By Chenayi Mutambasere As the weekend unfolded I took on the trepidatious task of reviewing the Minister of Finance’ 2024 Budget statement. I must say this year the budget doesn’t disappoint, the nervous feelings were well rewarded. This budget is a ‘trillion’ percent worse than the last, its contemptuous, inaccurate and retrogressive in every aspect. The budget is denominated in ZWL or Zimbabwe Dollars this approach is administratively delinquent given the high volatility of the ZWL. This means the budget statements cease to be comparable and literally within 24 hours the figures presented are no longer accurate due to inflation. It is also not clear what rate of exchange has been applied at different sections. For instance when analysing the Public and Publicly guaranteed debt there are 2 different rates of exchange applied to the domestic debit (@1:US$5480) and the external debt (@1 :US$4645). To avoid such delinquencies the budget could just be written and calculated using the US$ which will allow for transparency, comparability and better accuracy. The approach to use ZW$ purposefully creates smokes and mirrors with the budget failing the transparency litmus test. This is crucial and must be addressed urgently.

By Chenayi Mutambasere At the peak of Covid 19, Peggy Noonan, a weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, coined the statement: "A grave crisis calls for reason and realism not an abundance of caution!".... This statement appears very apt given the statements coming from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya while attempting to reassure Zimbabweans and stop them from panicking. But quite frankly reassurance is what the pilot gives you when you board a plane, the moment adversity strikes the pilot gives you ideas on how best you can survive... Simply saying Don't Panic when the plane is clearly in freefall mode is as Peggy Noonan says is ROTTEN ADVICE.

By Chenayi Mutambasere Like most of us I am slowly coming out of the shock of what we are beginning to literally witness with our eyes precisely ‘How they robbed us!’ When I expressed my utter shock in a Whatsapp group some people called me out ‘We thought you already knew?’…. Yes I know in the past I have called the Reserve Bank a Money Heist and more recently I accused the Governor of running his own economy via the Central Bank. All these assertions and yet still nothing prepared my heart at actually seeing the whole operation take place … Most shocking to me was the double edged sword of the lack of sophistication which pointed to the other edge of vacant legislature or judiciary in Zimbabwe. It’s literally as easy as 1,2,3 to take gold and launder money in Zimbabwe… Before you can say EK714 , US$1 billion worth of Gold has left the country. And before you put your head down that night only US$90,000 has made it back … Now try explain this to my dear friend waiting in a dialysis queue , or the 10 year old appealing for US$500 for an urgent leg amputation and welcome to my world the anguish runs deep. Ofcourse the ensuing radio silence from those that should act comes as no surprise to most of us. The custodians of regulation and the national purse are shockingly silent.  Their silence loudly announcing complicity first, incompetence second and then lastly apathy of the highest order. ‘They Don’t Even Care About Us’. Full Article: https://nehandaradio.com/2023/03/25/chenayi-mutambasere-kleptocracy-and-apathy-how-they-robbed-us/

By Chenayi Mutambasere So in 2019 my family and I travelled to Zimbabwe for our usual Zim family visit. Did the usual vaccination update, malaria tablet and we were off 💃🏾💃🏾.. Arrived there and as always kids had a fantastic time meeting cousins. My youngest had his 2nd birthday there it was great… Complications would set in a couple of days before we were due to return to the UK. My middle child who was 10 at the time was having a bit of a fever which we thought nothing off until he started needing the toilet after every 5 minutes. His health was deteriorating with something that seemed to be in his tummy. We took him to Trauma Centre and Lo and behold he had to be tested for cholera and typhoid or ecoli..  Some of the tests had to be sent to specialist labs in SA so we wouldn’t get the results back for sometime. Thankfully the doctor decided to start treatment. After going through the hassle of changing flight dates and all the additional costs we struck into panic mode. If it was cholera what would that mean for him and for all of us?

By Chenayi Mutambasere I was shocked the other day when I realised we are only 7 months away from the elections… I think I come correct when I say for me and my generation these elections will be our make or break (rather stay broken) election . At age 42 this probably will be the first and last best shot at getting it right and starting the process of handing over a better Zimbabwe to the next generation… So how is it looking and what can we do because the reality is this will happen come what …. I put to you some consideration