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Of Consensus, Democracy and Confusion

  Where is the democracy in the CCC outfit?? The election is a democratic process of choosing a person to get into public office. The proces...

Monday 6 February 2017

Myths of the Bond Notes

We have had the bond notes in circulation since October 2016. It is important that we look at what the critics and opponents of this piece of monetary policy were saying and how the bond notes have fared so far. The value of bond notes in circulation is now US$80 million. The public has accepted the so-called token currency.
The aim of this post is to debunk the myths and highlight the politicization of the bond notes issue. I hope this helps in boosting confidence into the general public on the bond notes.

GOOD MONEY MYTH
The opponents of the bond notes cited a 16th-century economist, Thomas Gresham, who said that bad money chases away good money. The assumption from these bush economists was economic theories are cast in stone and can remain true even after five centuries of social,economic and technological advancements.To say the GreshamLaw applies to gold coins and to try and compare it to bond notes is like stretching the theory too far.

It was assumed that the bond notes were the bad money and the USA dollar was the good money. The bush economists failed to read that bond notes would carry the same value as the USA dollar. The Reserve bank governor had said this over and over again.

PRINTING OF MONEY MYTH
The bush economists had the printing of money myth at the center of their argument against the bond notes. This was derived from a classical theory of a lot of money chasing a few goods.
The bond notes, the critics said, will increase the money supply and cause inflation. The Reserve bank governor again said the value of bond notes to be released would be related to foreign currency inflow into the economy. The Reserve bank would not print money but will only release the bond notes as incentives tied to exports and inward remittances from the diaspora.

FOREIGN CURRENCY CONTROL MYTH 
The opponents of the bond notes policy assumed that the
government will force people to accept a currency. It was said once the government releases the bond notes, the government would introduce foreign currency controls.

QUALITY MYTH 
When the bond notes were introduced, quality of the bond notes was raised as an issue. It was a deliberate move to discourage the acceptance of the bond notes by the public. Issues were raised on the quality of the bond notes. A fading colour and a damaged bond dollar  coin were circulated on social media and on fake media sites.
The people of Zimbabwe knew that the aim and purpose of the pictures and dismissed the quality aspects of the token currency with equal contempt.

LESSONS FROM THE MYTHS 
The bond notes and coins have disrupted the perception of the USA dollar as a sole value holder in our economy. It is no longer the de facto currency.
This above point put the token money at the center of our banking system. It means the Reserve Bank role as bank of last resort is back . This also means the government can at times have the power to intervene in the economy via the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
This is the power that our detractors is afraid of. The power to intervene in our economy has moved into the hands of Government and is no longer determined by foreigners outside Zimbabwe. 

Monday 23 January 2017

The Sanctions Story

Did you know that my blog has had over 25000 viewers from all over the world? I also have about 2800 connections on Facebook.Are you one of them yet? If not, like me here.
By following my Facebook page and blog you’ll be able to see stories from across Zimbabwe.  Stories about communities banding together to fight evil sanctions threateningour citizens.


I highlight where our citizens' rights are being abused. I have pointed out where pro-white supremacists propaganda is used to disguise these racist sanctions and justify their effect as the Government of Zimbabwe mismanagement.


I have tried to tell the stories of our struggle against USA  and  EU sanctions. How we have at times overcome or override these sanctions. These stories have been told by many amongst the enlightened and conscious of our citizens.


These stories must be told over and over again for the benefit of those who have lost the  Chimurenga narrative. Let us all tell the stories on social media.

 I am begging every Zimbabwean to Google ZIDERA or to go to Wikipedia so that we all speak with one informed voice against the sanctions.l am proud to say those who have read my blog or my Facebook posts have done me a favour by sharing and reposting. I have had positive and negative criticism. These are our stories let us tell the world and let history be the judge on these racist sanctions.


When the world stops and reads these inspirational stories of our struggle against USA and EU sanctions we will inspire and convert more people to see the evil and impact of the sanctions. You can use Facebook to play your part too -- as social media is an effective way to take action and put pressure on our enemies.
Using the social media can really help us win hearts. Social media does not have borders or boundaries. 

It allows us to interact with the ordinary citizens of the EU and USA. It is an effective way of busting the sanctions! The purpose of the sanctions is primarily to gag us from speaking on the land issue and social media is the only tool we have at our disposal.


Reading my posts on Facebook and my blog means you can look forward to daily updates and posts on issues that matter to you.It’s a great way to keep in touch.
Bond Notes Are Not Zimdollars










Here are three things you might have missed recently by not following us on1. Bond Notes.2.Robert Mugabe's story.3. ZIDERA sanctions unpacked.
With thousands of people liking, commenting on and sharing these stories, Facebook is still the number one way we can reach more people. By simply sharing one of our posts, people who may never otherwise hear about sanctions will get involved too, and in that way, we build a stronger and bigger movement against ZIDERA and the EU sanctions. 

Your friends will take notice of what you share -- if you care, chances are they will too!
Sanctions are about land

Will you join the community on Facebook and help spread the word to your friends?


All Zimbabweans must work together to challenge these sanctions by the West. Iwe neni tine basa!! It is our country and it is our duty.

Thursday 22 December 2016

Of Transfers and Bond Notes

 ZW MOBILE OR TELEPHONE BANKING:

I had to write another post to explain and assist on how some of us are surviving in these very trying times. My previous post on bond notes tips got over 5000 shares on Facebook , Twitter and Google. Thanks for that. I got inspired to expand on this by Elias Saidi a friend on Facebook.I give part if not all credit to him on this post.

Here I am going to explain how to transfer money without paying heavy bank charges or EcoCash charges.We have an option to transfer money cheaper than what  the mobile platforms are charging.

RTGS VERSUS ZIPIT
Even after the recent downward review of the bank charges, the truth is that RTGSs (and people looking to access their cash have to make a lot of them) at $3 a transaction, are still quite expensive to do. And of course EcoCash still charges the sender up to $7 for a $100 transfer to an unregistered number and a recipient $3 to cash it out – $10 transaction fees in total . You can visit Econet website for more information on their website.
The sad thing is that there’s a way to avoid these heavy bank charges but the awareness of how is just very low.
There’s mobile money service that almost all banks offer. It’s almost like EcoCash but it uses ZimSwitch’s ZIPIT technology.

WHAT ZIPIT IS AND WHY THE BIG DEAL? 
Almost every bank has a mobile money service (you can call it mobile banking) that you can access via your mobile phone’s USSD just like EcoCash and Telecash. It’s a big deal for 2 reasons:
1) The first is that you can transfer as much as $10,000 to almost any bank account in Zimbabwe for just a flat fee of about $1
2) The second reason is that all transfers go through instantly so no more waiting days for RTGSs to go through.
You can use the service for other things as well like buying airtime and paying bills.
WHICH ARE THE BANKS THAT HAS ZIPIT?
Each bank has a different name pr brand for it but it’s just the same ZIPIT service at the core.
For example, CABS calls it Textacash, FBC calls it Mobile Moola, at CBZ it’s CBZ Touch, at MetBank MetClick and so on. But essentially when you approach your bank, you want to ask them about their new phone USSD based banking. (don’t mention ZIPIT as some tellers will give you a blank stare – I had that experience at NMB.)
HOW TO GET YOUR DEBIT CARDS
To start using the service you simply enable mobile banking on your existing bank account by signing up at your bank. Kind of the same same way enabled internet banking on your account.
If, however, you happen to not have a bank account at all, then open one. The above accounts just need your national identity card to be issued with a card. The cards are issued on application and are all activated immediately.

Go get your card, go cashless and Happy Banking!!!!


Friday 2 December 2016

Bond Notes and Cashless Tips

GO MOBILE
 You need a debit card to survive in these times. There are cards that you can get for free. Ecocash, Telecash and Textacash are free and you only need a photocopy of your national identity card. These cards are issued immediately . These cards can be linked to your mobile phone.  These cards are also on Zimswitch so you can transact  any where and any time.
LETS GO MOBILE

BOND NOTES AND YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.
The money in your account remains in USA dollars. The money is in the banking system it  retain its value. It is the bond notes in the informal sector which are open to abuse by unscrupulous black market operators. So my advise if you have bond notes bank them immediately to get the USA dollar value.


BOND NOTES ARE HERE












CASH OR CARD 





BANKING PRODUCTS
All banks  have products that give you a card for that allow to swipe instead of always paying cash. Swiping can save you money in form of transaction costs and transport cost ,especially if you live far from your bank.
These debit cards allows us to pay for almost anything with it.All banks are on Zimswitch and this allows us the banking public to get money at any bank.l feel a limit of $20 on Zimswitch's ATM person should be imposed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

BILLER CODES & MERCHANT  BANK ACCOUNTS
We should have biller  and merchant codes  for every service provider for their biller/merchant code. It is  not a bad idea or rude to ask for your creditors bank account number.This will make it easier for us to transfer monies amongst us. We can use ZIPIT and RTGS. 

LET US GO INTERNATIONAL
FOREIGN DEBIT CARDS 
Banks are offering  VISA ,Mastercard and other international debit cards. These will allow you to transact outside our borders. You can bank those bond notes and get USA dollar value outside. Cross border traders can use these cards for purchases

WHY GO CASHLESS?
 This country is under foreign sanctions and we need to safeguard our banking sector from foreign manipulation. Keeping our money in our banking systems allows  authorities to control and monitor all financial services. Money laundering and illegal transactions like smuggling are driven by cash. Going cashless is a state security priority  and it is every citizen's responsibility

Wednesday 30 November 2016

November Events And Traditions

THE TRADITION

If you're a Zimbabwean  there's a very real possibility that you've  been told that November is a sacred month.  Traditional you don’t marry, lay stones on graves or do anything spiritual.  This is a sacred months for Zimbabweans. I would  like people to see the contradictions in our culture with the USA where they are celebrating Thanksgiving day.

CONTRADICTION IN NOVEMBER

This contradiction runs right to the arrival of the infamous Pioneer Column, this day is celebrated by Rhodesian settlers. In this month the racist Rhodesian settlers murdered thousands of children , unarmed refugees and bombed a hospital at Chimoio. This was a war crime that no one fake media remembers or write about. More people died on this day than those who died during Gukurahundi.

The tradition dictates whatever we do the spirits will not recognize it and bad luck would fall on you. Now there lies the gist of this blog post. I wish to unpack the effect on tradition on the USA election, Chimanimani by-election, The Tajamuka/Nera Shutdown and of course the bond notes story.

Now if  you're black Zimbabwean like most people you've probably been told  about this November tradition maybe even had one or two misfortune fall on you.Mwedzi waMusikavanhu it is as holy as the Sabbath day to the Jews. You do not go against God.

HILARY CLINTON DEMISE

I say all that to say this.My objective is explain what befell our nemesis, the chief sponsor of the ZIDERA sanctions and the most hated woman in the USA, Hilary Clinton. She lost the elections to a media underdog Donald Trump. I celebrated Donald Trump victory just to spite Hilary! !If celebrated with me with me Great job!
Hopefully  Donald Trump's  victory may mean an end of the #Zidera sanctions. Watch this space in in February 2016!!

NERA'S CONTRADICTION

Okay, back to here in Zimbabwe. This month is month the hated NERA called for two national Shutdowns . The purpose was to protest the  introduction of the bond notes! ! The two demonstrations were all monumental failures. The Reserve bank governor had to remind NERA that the Bond notes has already been in use since the first of October.
   
You see, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe  was already  giving importers and people who are receiving remittances from abroad were already receiving incentives. The people of Zimbabwe knew that the NERA demonstrations had been overtaken by events. This was sacred month of November!!

THE GREEN MACHINE AND BOND NOTES


However, I've decided  to highlights the positives of November. You might have seen that one of the bond notes colour is green. Is it  a coincidence that the Green Machine, CAPS United, won the Zimbabwe Premier League in this month of November. Was the Green Machine used to print the notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe? I feel that the bond notes will be a success just like the famous CAPS United.


CHIMANIMANI VICTORY

There was a by election in Chimanimani and, of course, ZANU Pf won the election. The usually noise of intimidation, violence and rigging  in the gutter media was routinely and religiously repeated. The fake media had the guts to copy word for word what was written in previous election years. We Zimbabweans do not take the gutter and fake media seriously. The gutter media is beamed at the diaspora and our detractors.



I have always said to the people in the diaspora there's no better way to learn about the fairness and accuracy of our elections  than by watching the real deal .The Zimbabwean people are willing to let you watch and pull you aside to break down everything they're doing during elections. Come home and see for yourself how we run our elections. Our next general elections are in 2018 , come home!

ROBIN HOOD

Finally Robin Hood was let of by enquiry set up by ZANU Pf. This was after Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commsision had over zealously laid charges and prematurely ordered the arrest of our guy in Tsholotsho. I am still at loss on how a minister can assess a cent of public funds without cabinet authority.  This is really  my November question to the ZAAC commissioner!

I could go on and on about November and God but for now let us remember the traditions of our land.Icho!!!

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Me and Social media

I did write on this blog that l was going to put my twitter account on steroids. It was a kneejack responds to my faltering social media presence. l had a blog which people rarely visited,  a twitter account with just over 200 viewers since 2008, a Facebook  book page that had 135 likes and l just said l was going to double these
statistics in 6 month.That was my target!!!

MY SOCIAL MEDIA AIM
My main objective of getting on social media was to increase my market reach and generate leads for my ever emerging company registration and business advisory service venture.




MY FACEBOOK 
I am told there are 1.5 billion people  on Facebook but l still have  140 very loyal clients and fans who have liked my page. It is 1.5 billion potential customers and l saw a gold mine and hence l opened my Facebook page.  I am still fishing for leads.
I actually lost one or two fans on my Facebook  over the last six months.

MY BLOG
I started my blog with the same objective for my Facebook page.  I needed  business leads and of course the elusive Adsense revenue.  On the marketing and leads l have yet to see the impact but on the Adsense revenue l have increased my very modest earnings.
My blog traffic has increased to just over 500 per month. This is a great improvement since l had just over a thousand visitors for the whole of 2015.

MY TWITTER 
My twitter  account has been a great success as l have increased my followers from just over 200 in January to over 1600 over a period of nine months. 
I attribute the increase to automation and my lively participation  and engagement  on Twitter.














MY LESSONS FROM ALL THIS
I  have had my few lessons about social media, on the business  side, social media is not a substitute for marketing . I still need to get out there and hustle if l need new business! Social media compliments my business activities . My advice to all business is get on the social media train and grow.

Friday 21 October 2016

ThisFlag And ThisPastor

The Pastor And His story and History
This is the story of Evan Mawarire . You remember  him. The pastor-for-hire and the #ThisFlag guy from Zimbabwe. He is that guy who when he came against an ordinary challenge in his life, failure to pay his children's schools fees made it a political issue.
Now if it was me or you would have had to do something to figure out how to get past an ordinary challenge  so you could get to the bottom of it.

The Pastor and his Creativity
It was not to be for Evan. The old ways of raising money wasn’t working anymore. So he thought of  something different did it. He got a video of himself, narrated his views and feelings!! And the video went viral. We will not discuss the concept of viral marketing except l will tell you ...it an expensive exercise for a broke pastor.
Now  that the pastor had a viral video, the next thing he did was to go out and meet his fans. This is a very expensive exercise for a broke pastor but through the grace of God , he was able to meet his fans (l am not calling them supporters).

This Pastor And Violence
It is on record that the pastor did not incite public violence, he was a victim of an unjust government.  I mean the executive an independent arm of government,  arrested him and the judicial another independent arm of  the government of Zimbabwe set him free. His fans who always blame lack of good governance had to eat their own words on this occasion. They could not applaud or curse the government.


This Pastor And This Dollar Thing
Evan achievement of making a school fees  plea into  a  social movement, as the stupids ones amongst us want to believe … felt GREAT. And he realized he could do wonders as broke as he was.As soon as he was released he fled the country penniless and very broke.
The next picture of him is at a Lakers match deep in the USA. How can broke pastor fly across the oceans and turn up at a $2000 dollar a seat basketball  match. The money for the ticket could have paid school fees for a term for 50 kids in Magunje.

This Pastor And His Fall
The pastor did one or two television shows and then he turned up with six or nine others at the UN headquarters to meet the President of Zimbabwe,  Robert Mugabe. It was  where he met his Waterloo in the form of the December 12 movement. These are blacks who know the colours and cost of the Zimbabwean flag. They had not flown half the world to protest the presence of Robert Mugabe,like Evan,in contrast they walked from their homes to support him. Evan was told to go home and he was told that he was there for the USA green card.He was humiliated and chased from New York.It was an embarrassing moment for the pastor-for-hire and his sponsors. It was when every  Zimbabwean knew why the pastor-for-hire had made the school fees video.

This Pastor And His Dirty Record
 Every Zimbabwean knew the purpose and intent of the flight into exile. After his infamous escapades in New York and other cities in the USA, the pastor thought he had done enough to clean his dirty British records,enough to please the English authorities to clear him for a visa. NO the British do not forget easily he was denied entry.

This Pastor Today
 Everyone of us Zimbabweans now know who was behind the video and the Pastor-for-hire.
Our questions to the pastor-for-hire is did he pay his children's school fees after all that drama? Where is the pastor today. Does he still wrap our flag on his shoulder and call it cheaply #ThisFlag.  We wait for the answers! !