ZwNews Chief Correspondent
President Emmerson Mnangagwa through his deputy and currently Acting-President Constantino Chiwenga, has responded with urgency to the call by Delta Beverages to sell its products that include well sought after alcoholic brands in foreign currency, at the time the country’s doctors are on strike for similar reasons.
In dealing with the doctors’ issue Chiwenga initially chided them, calling them mere students and threatened to fire them for engaging into the industrial action, but later backtracked and pleaded with them to return to work as their grievances are being looked into.
Be that as it may, while the doctors’ matter who are demanding to be paid in US dollars is still yet to be addressed, the government have assured Delta that it would do all in its power to make sure that the company get US dollars allocation so that it continues to sell its products in the local bond currency and other money transfer platforms.
A joint press statement between Delta Beverages and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was issued announcing the reversal of the intention by the former to sell its products in foreign currency.
The two parties disclosed that an agreement was reached to that effect, part of it reads; “The two parties agreed that: Delta withdraws the notice to sell its products exclusively in hard currency, in the spirit of the multi-currency framework.
“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will endeavour to provide the foreign currency needed to ensure that Delta continues to trade on the current basis.”
The joint statement was signed by the RBZ governor John Mangudya and Delta’s chief executive Pearson Gowero.
Meanwhile, some residents who spoke to this publication in the streets of Harare have received the meeting outcome with mixed reactions. Some mock ED for finding quick solutions when it comes to beer issues, while the teachers and doctors are up in arms demanding the same solution.
“These coup leaders are operating under the heavy influence of alcohol. They are swift in finding solution on beer prices while failing to deal with the pertinent issue of doctors, people are dying and they don’t care,” mocks Muchineripi Dewah, a Warren Park resident.
Dewah says the main reason why Mnangagwa and company do not care much about solving the health issue is because of the fact that they themselves and their kids do not use local hospitals when they get sick. “These guys do not care whether doctors are there in hospitals or not because when they get sick they sought treatment outside the country’s borders,” he adds.
Another Harare resident Joseline Kadzviti agrees says the government should find a solution to the doctors’ strike as a matter of urgency just as they did on the Delta issue; however, as far as I am concerned the matter is far much bigger, the government has just managed to thwart dollarization precedence, at least for now.
“Delta is a very big undertaking with a great influence on the local market, and had their intention to sell in foreign currency prevailed that would have set a precedence of self-dollarisation in the economy,” says Kadzviti, an economics student at a local college in the city.
However, she also believes that it is only a matter of time, before the economy self-dollarizes as the RBZ would soon fail to sustain Delta’s and other key companies’ foreign currency requirements, because of the depleted forex reserves in the country’s nostro accounts.
Meanwhile, the government has been failing to give the baking industry enough foreign currency, and as it stands bread price hikes is looming, owing to the inability by RBZ to supply bakers with the required forex. The bakers association of Zimbabwe has since notified the nation of the looming bread price hikes, effective soon. Should that prevail, the hike would be the second in a short period of time, after the one that brought bread to the current price.
