In 2002 I held a very well paying international job. I was paid a four figure amount in US dollars at a time when such salaries could only be imagined. In terms of ability I was a top performer in doing my job, one of the reasons why I had been quickly plucked from Harare to international postings for that organisation. The benefits included flights home twice a year for my family.
It was a good job, but I had one problem. I loved my country. I was an oasis of patriotism.
I therefore saved up as quickly as I could, so that I could invest back home. In 2003 I setup a business, invested in an existing family farm and moved back to Zimbabwe.
To this day I regret that move. When I moved to Zimbabwe the exchange rate was around 54 Zimbabwe dollars to 1 US dollar, a figure which seemed unbelievable then. I trusted that there was no way the government would allow things to get worse.
I converted a lot of money to Zimbabwe dollars, moving money from international accounts I held to Zimbabwe. What a stupid fool I was.
In between 2003 and 2008 when I left Zimbawe again, my money disappeared. Up to now I cannot explain to a non-Zimbabwean how my money disappeared. They simply can't comprehend what happened in Zimbabwe. How we ended up with ludicrous quadrillion dollar notes, that were worthless.
First three zeros were removed and then another nine were removed. Even after the removal of twelve zeros, we still had to print quadrillion dollar notes. That means the true figure of our currency's worthlessness, was probably nonillion or decillion.
In practical terms a figure of 1 million Zimbabwe dollars (worth about 19 thousand US dollars in 2002) would have been reduced to one millionth of a cent in 4 years after the removal off twelve zeros. And, of the new zero adjusted currency, you needed a quadrillion dollars to buy a single loaf of bread.
By the time I left Zimbabwe again in 2008, I left holding a paperbag with couple of trousers and shirts, wearing a jacket with torn elbows. From flying home whenever I wished, in less than five years I had been reduced to begging relatives for busfare just to make my way across the Limpopo.
The thousands of US dollars I had moved to Zimbabwe had simply disappeared from my Barclays Bank account as Gono juggled with zeros.
Fortunately I had had the sense to process a skills based worked permit around 2006. I was able to land a good job within a month and slowly start building my life again.
And then Obert Mpofu gets a brain wave and decides he wants to come and ask people like me for a billion American dollars. Kwaaaaaaaaaa! Seka zvako mwana wekwaPunungwe.
There is no way I, Jupiter Charles Punungwe, am going to invest money where politicians give themselves the right to take my money whenever they wish for their travels and luxury expenses.
If others want to, they can go invest. I do not touch hot fire twice. As they say in my Shona language, "Rega zvipore wakabva mukutsva". Loose translated it means "He who says let it cool, has been burnt before."
If Obert Mpofu needs to be reminded, they took our money from FCAs. Do I also need to remind him of the way they printed and 'burnt' the Zimdollar resulting in us loosing life savings and investments.
I had education policies with Old Mutual and First Mutual that would have taken care of my children's education till university. As I am writing this I am scrounging around trying to raise money to pay school fees next term.
The actions of the Zimbabwe government have resulted in people loosing trust in it. The people who squandered that trust are still very much ensconced in positions. Not a single one of them has been held to account. Occasionally a lot of noise is made about small fry, like Cuthbert Dube and Happison Muchechetere, but the big fish, the blue whales of corruption are left alone. Burping with distended stomachs full of loot.
Mr Obert Mpofu, listen very carefully. The main reason why people are not willing to put money in your government's jurisdiction is they don't trust you. Look what you have just done in Chiadzwa. Do you think that engenders trust?
Personally I was foolish once, I won't be foolish again. That is a promise.
We have a government which places taking foreign trips ahead of paying the salaries of civil servants. We have a government that re-directs much of the little tax they collect to Dubai and China. We have a government that tells ordinary people 'rambai makashinga' (persevere), yet they do not want to forgo their multi-car and foreign holidays luxury lifestyle. We have leadership that takes holidays abroad while hunger looms at home.
Whatever money is raised is simply going to be swallowed by the very same bottomless pit of corruption and entitlement that swallowed Zimbabwe's once good economy.
Mr Mpofu let me give you some very simple advice. The problem you have is not money. The problem you have is mismanagement of money. Giving you money is like looking after goats in a forest full of hyenas. Kusaira mbudzi musango rine mapere. Instead of a lot of fat goats people will simply end up with a lot of dead goats.
Secondly you must get rid of the notion that people in the diaspora have got lots of cash to spare. We don't. Most of us are struggling to make ends meet, especially given that we have to look after relatives who can't find work in Zimbabwe.
We are supporting multiple families, some of whom cannot support themselves because of the government's economic mismanagement. Why should we stop supporting our families and relatives in order to support the government. Why should we top-up the pockets of politicians wallowing in luxury, enjoying foreign holidays, million dollar parties and the like. They control government and they take whatever they want from government coffers.
After all their profligate and uncontrolled spending is the root cause of the economic situation.
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