Jonathan Moyo tells Mushayavanhu to stick to monetary policy and leave money changers to the police

Unlike Dr Gono and Dr Mangudya, Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba did not find themselves working under extraordinary circumstances requiring extraordinary measures, equivalent to mending a ubiquitously leaky roof in the middle of heavy rains marked by a violently thunderous hailstorm. No. They were able to work as professionals, meaning as economists, not as political technocrats; wherein issues of the day were amenable to the management through the subtleties of time, space and the environment using the strategy and communication not of daily public speeches or public relations statement or breakfast meetings with all and sundry; but communication via monetary policy instruments and institutional representation of the RBZ through the deputation and delegation of the RBZ staff which allowed Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba, respectively, to take a backseat as the voice of last resort.

So it is that as RBZ Governors, Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba were not known by every Jane, Mary, Tom, Dick and Harry out there; because they were not visible governors like politicians; they did not have common names or faces in the public domain who would brawl with real MPs or social media MPs who specialise in making noise for its own sake. Even when one googles Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba today, not many of their pictures or images or even articles. This is because they kept away from the glare of public space, they spoke publicly not on more than five or so occasions over 10 years. But, and this is the crucial point with learning implications for Dr Mushayavanhu, their presence was of course very strong and it was felt daily in the various markets that make up the economy and society, through their monetary policy instruments.

Dr Mushayavanhu can rest assured that he will not be able to deal with the ‘trust deficit” issues that he has publicly spoken about, nor will he be able to restore the confidence of the public or the markets by making press statements or speeches or having breakfast meetings all over the place, where the temptation to shoot from the hip is always high and is invariably irresistible.

The task might be difficult, but the plain fact is that the language that Dr Mushayavanhu needs to speak is not what he has been speaking, rather, it is the one which used to be spoken by Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba; that is the language only spoken through the instruments of monetary policy. His social media detractors do not know or understand that language of instruments of monetary policy; but of course, the markets and the stakeholders in the banking and financial services sectors know and understand that language very well.

There are two public areas that Dr Mushayavanhu should avoid, which were also avoided by Dr Moyana and Dr Tsumba during their tenure: public relations and politics through the media of any kind; and law and order engagements under which the RBZ threaten the arrest of any economic player – such as money changers or retailers – for currency crimes. Criminology is a law and order responsibility best left to the Zimbabwe Republic Police in particular, and the security sector in general; criminology has nothing to do with monetary policy, which is the purview of the RBZ, led by its governor.

All told, RBZ must stay the course outlined in the 5 April 2024 MPS.

The rest is history!

By Jonathan Moyo

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