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Zimbabwe goes for the gold — the Mosi-ao- Tunya coin, that is — to fight high inflation
BY LESLEY WROUGHTON
With inflation soaring in Zimbabwe and the country’s currency in free-fall as people abandon it for the United States dollar, the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa is fighting back with a novel strategy: gold coins.
Starting Monday, Zimbabwe is selling one-ounce, 22-carat gold coins bearing an image of Victoria Falls, its world-famous natural wonder.
Each has a serial number, comes with a certificate and will be sold at a price “based on the prevailing international price of gold and the cost of production,” the central bank said in its announcement on July 4.
The coins will be tradable both in Zimbabwe and overseas, the bank said, and can be exchanged for cash.
The goal is to reduce the quantity of Zimbabwe dollars in circulation to eventually restore its value.
What’s unknown is whether the approach has any real chance of success.
While gold is traditionally the ideal hedge against inflation and general economic uncertainty, no country has previously tried to tackle a weakening currency by selling gold coins.
“In that sense, it is unusual,” said Carlos Caceres, the International Monetary Fund’s representative to Zimbabwe.
And with gold trading at US$1,710 per troy ounce late last week, institutional investors may be the coins’ principal buyers.
“No ordinary person will be able to afford it,” said Prosper Chitambara, a senior researcher at the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe.
“Right now, Zimbabweans are living hand-to-mouth.
Economic crises are nothing new to people in the southern African nation, who for more than two decades have faced hyperinflation, food and fuel shortages, staggering unemployment and other hardships.
For many, the current crisis recalls the late 2000s under then-president Robert Mugabe. Annual inflation hit a record 489 billion percent in September 2008, and shoppers carried garbage bags full of bank notes to buy groceries.
Mugabe’s government was forced to print a trillion-dollar note, the largest in world history, before the country abandoned its currency in 2015 for the US dollar.
Mugabe was forced to resign in 2017, and the Zimabwe dollar, as it is known, was reintroduced two years later. But as confidence in it again falls, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has warned that businesses refusing to accept the currency from customers could lose their trading licenses.
This year the Zimbabwe dollar has already lost roughly 72 percent of its value against the US dollar.
Annual inflation reached triple digits in May, climbing again in June to 192 percent even as interest rates more than doubled — to 200 percent from 80 percent.
Chitambara said the government wants sales of the gold coins to moderate high demand for US dollars, a key factor in the local currency’s depreciation.
If that happens, in turn reducing some of the excess money supply and easing inflationary pressures, “then it would’ve been a positive experiment,” according to Caceres.
Still, Caceres said, the IMF prefers tried-and-tested tools as it advises member countries on best economic policies.
When confronting both inflation and a weakening currency, such tools include raising or cutting interest rates to control inflation and tweaking the amount of money that banks must set aside as reserves.
Most of Zimbabwe’s inflationary pressures emanate from its currency troubles.
But rising prices are also being fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sparked a global wave of inflation amid supply shortages of grains and fuel.
On the streets of the capital city of Harare, there isn’t much chatter about the new coin — the Mosi-ao-tunya, the traditional name for the Zambezi River waterfall. It translates to “the smoke that thunders.”
Vendor Trust Muyererwa is focused on his increasingly difficult day-to-day life.
“In January, I would pay $10 U.S. to buy a pack of mealie meal, cooking oil, sugar, and salt and this would push me through the month,” said Muyererwa, 28.
“Now, a bottle of cooking oil costs $5 U.S., and I cannot buy much more” with the remainder.
Many people survive via a parallel, illegal market, with currency traders waiting on street corners and outside shopping centers waving bundles of US dollars as well as Zimbabwe dollars.
Teachers and nurses went on strike in June and demanded that half their salaries be paid in US dollars to offset the tumbling local currency.
Retailers often are raising prices every other day, and more of them are starting to quote prices in US dollars.
The Zimbabwe central bank last month offered bakers access to foreign currency to keep down the price of bread.
Hilda Musungu (33) has started charging US dollars for the traditional meals she sells from her sidewalk stand because “no wants the Zimbabwean dollar anymore.”
“Last December, $200 US was enough for me to buy food packs to sell the whole day,” she explained.
“The cost has climbed to $270 U.S., and she has increased her own prices in turn.
“Sadly, fewer people are now coming to our place.” – The Washington Post
*Bernard Mpofu in Harare contributed to this report.
BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
In a poignant tribute that has resonated across the conservation community, Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) recently gathered to honour the memory of Greg ‘Gibby’ Gibbard, a man whose life was inextricably linked to the survival of the African wild dog. Gibbard, who passed away in 2015, is being remembered not just for his years of service, but for a legacy that continues to safeguard one of the continent’s most endangered predators.
The Facebook remembrance, shared by Maria of PDC, highlights a life defined by “unwavering courage” and a refusal to let the story of the painted dog end. While the region continues to grapple with intense poaching pressure—including a recent surge in illegal traps that has seen thousands of snares removed from the bush—the focus of this week’s memorial is on the “hope and resilience” that Gibbard instilled in the mission.
Tracking Footprints in the Sand
For those who knew him, Greg’s work was far from the polished image of modern wildlife tourism. It was characterized by “long days in the bush, tracking fading footprints in dust and sand,” and the relentless, often exhausting effort of “educating communities and inspiring young conservationists.”
Maria noted that Gibbard stood as a “guardian of a species that many had forgotten,” recognizing early on that the survival of the patchwork-coated dogs was “inseparable from our own future.” His dedication spanned “sleepless nights worrying about disease and disappearing habitat,” a commitment that laid the foundation for the sophisticated tracking and research operations used by PDC today.
A Legacy of Resilience: The Umkhonto Pack
The success of modern interventions is widely seen as a continuation of Gibbard’s vision. A primary example is the Umkhonto Pack, which has become a “flagship example of science-driven, field-based conservation”.
Image by PDC
Though the park faces ongoing challenges with illegal snaring in communal areas, the protection of this specific pack has been a resounding victory. According to the latest PDC data:
Eight healthy pups were successfully raised during the last denning season with no mortalities .
The pack has stabilized at 19 individuals , now ranging within the safety of Hwange National Park.
The integration of research and tracking technology—methods Gibbard championed—led to the arrest of eleven poachers in the pack’s territory.
The “Shadows of the Savanna” Live OnAs the conservation community marks a decade since his passing, the presence of these “remarkable predators” remains the ultimate tribute to his life. The current population in the Hwange and Sinamatela regions is robust, with several monitored packs carrying the torch of his efforts.
The Emerald pack, which has reached 22 individuals, and the Batsha pack , with 20 dogs, are thriving examples of the “unbreakable family bonds” Maria spoke of in her tribute . Other groups, including the Kingsbury, Linkwasha, Chowato, Cave, Intundla, Khumbula, and Garikamwe packs, continue to move like “shadows across the savanna at sunrise,” fulfilling Gibbard’s dream of a wilderness that still echoes with their high-pitched calls.
“May we honour Greg’s memory not only with words, but with action,” the tribute concluded.
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