Zimbabwe says operation mari wakaiwanepi could deal with black market

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  Hon. Mliswa, I thought you insisted that the Hon. Deputy Minister must answer.  So give him the due respect and listen to the answer.

HON. CHIDUWA:  Thank you.  I was saying the injection of cash is going to be gradual and that is the long and short of it.  Thank you.

HON. ZENGEYA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I have a supplementary question pertaining to the response that has been given by the Deputy Minister.  Whilst you say you are in the process of monitoring the cash flow, how come while people were failing to access money in the banks there was so much money that was found circulating in the streets of Harare than in the banks?  Thank you.

HON. CHIDUWA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I am sure that the Hon. Members should appreciate that economic management is not based on what you see on the streets. What is important is whether we have empirical evidence to that effect – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – [AN. HON. MEMBER: Are you saying that ZBC is lying?] – [HON. T. MLISWA: ZBC is State owned so hainyepe.] – The Hon. Members are worried about the monies that the SMEs are making on the streets and – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – I am sure the Hon. Members want a response so what I am saying is if we look at our broad policy, we want to have broad financial inclusion. We want the sector to be banked so we are having a situation where people are making their money but if the money is not banked, this is why Government policy is saying we want to ensure that people are banked. That issue I am sure is covered because people are probably not banking their proceeds.

Then the other dimension Hon. Speaker which is part of the policy that we are working on is the issue of dealing with the black market. The issue of the black market is something that we are saying when people are buying goods and services from outside; they bring in goods through our borders. What we need is as they bring those goods, the easiest thing for us is just to say mari wakaiwanepi? This will immediately deal with the black market because as long as we say mari wakaiwanepi people will go through the official market. So that is the response.

HON. GONESE: My point of order Mr. Speaker is that the Hon.

Deputy Minister is answering his own question which he has created. He has not responded to the question asked. The question asked Mr. Speaker relates to the issue of new money, the new notes which were introduced yesterday which were already in circulation. The question was – why was there more of these notes on the streets than in the banks? This is a story which was carried on State media and I am sure that the Hon. Deputy Minister should be aware. He must make himself conversant with issues relating to his new Ministry. That is the question to which the Hon. Deputy Minister did not respond and that is my point of order that the Hon. Deputy Minister should be directed because his response does not relate to the new notes. He talks about banking Mr. Speaker, that cannot arise in respect of the new notes which were only introduced yesterday. The question is how this money got on to the streets before going through the banks. That is the answer or response which the people of Zimbabwe want to know because there is a suspicion that this money is being put on the black market instead of the formal market which is the banks.

HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I may not be privy to the funds that are in the banks but as of yesterday banks were injected with cash. People were allowed to withdraw their monies. So that is the long and short of it. Maybe the Hon. Members are privileged that they know what is left in the banks but as for the money that was on the street, I am sure people have been given access to withdraw their cash and they did the withdrawals.

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