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PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says Zimbabweans should stop ‘fighting’ the recently re-introduced Zimbabwe dollar in favour of other people’s currencies.
Addressing residents of Kuwadzana 2 in Harare during his monthly clean-up campaign, Mnangagwa was at pains as he tried to explain to the local community that the Zimbabwe dollar was legal tender and retailers should not reject coins.
Traders, public transport operators are no longer accepting coins below the one dollar denomination while other retailers and service providers are pegging their products and services in US dollars.
“This is legal tender, coins should be accepted because it is our nation’s currency,” Mnangagwa told residents. “Some residents are still refusing our own currency, even if we use other people’s currency, it is still not ours. For us to develop, we must have our own currency. “We are fighting our own money for other people’s money, we must love our own money,” he said.
In his address, Mnangagwa reiterated Zimbabwe will not go back to the multi-currency system that was used from 2009, but was banned by the government in June 2019. Instead, he said, Zimbabweans should be proud to use their own currency as it signified sovereignty.
Angry residents at the clean-up campaign told Mnangagwa they were living under challenging conditions where rentals, school fees were high and they could not afford basic commodities like bread and mealie-meal while facing serious water and electricity shortages.
