As long as the ruling elite reject ZiG, no amount of propaganda will render it Zimbabwe’s sole currency

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The state media machine is at it again, painting a picture of an economy “inching closer to sole use of ZiG.” 

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In a heavily sanitized Sunday Mail interview, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu gleefully checked off six of eight technical conditions supposedly required to anchor the local unit. 

We are told of single-digit inflation, a contained parallel market premium, and a steady accumulation of gold bars in the central bank’s vaults.

Yet, the entire narrative collapses under the weight of a singular, uncomfortable truth: as long as the ruling elite reject ZiG, no amount of reserves will render it Zimbabwe’s sole currency.

Optics are everything when attempting to build confidence in a local currency, especially for a population deeply traumatized by past experiences of hyperinflation. 

Zimbabweans have watched their hard-earned life savings turn into worthless, discarded paper overnight, more than once. 

Trust cannot be manufactured by an automated foreign currency trading system or a public relations blitz showcasing high-quality bank notes. 

Trust is built when those who hold the levers of power demonstrate unshakeable faith in the instruments they create.

Right now, the optics are disastrous. 

If there is genuine confidence in the local currency, anchored by single-digit inflation and a $1.6 billion reserve buffer, why are those in power not leading by example? 

Why are they not openly using ZiG as the sole currency when conducting their public and private affairs?

Instead, the nation watches in astonishment as tenderpreneurs closely linked to state power flaunt and give away staggering swaths of cash exclusively in US dollars. 

We witness multi-million-dollar displays of largesse that completely bypass the local unit. 

Why, for instance, didn’t Wicknell Chivayo offer Chimurenga music legend Thomas Mapfumo ZiG 27 million – at the official exchange rate – for performing at his birthday and Jah Prayzah’s upcoming wedding?

If ZiG is the stable store of value the governor claims it is, a deal of that magnitude in the local currency would have been the ultimate endorsement. 

Instead, the greenback remains the undisputed language of the political and business elite.

This hypocrisy is not confined to private parties; it is hardcoded into state policy. 

The government itself still stubbornly refuses to accept ZiG for passport applications and continues to permit fuel—the lifeblood of the economy—to be priced and sold exclusively in US dollars.

When the state demands the US dollar for its most critical, high-revenue services, it sends a loud, unambiguous message to the market: we do not trust our own creation to hold value.

By continually preferring the US dollar, the ruling class reinforces a toxic dual narrative. 

First, that the greenback is inherently more reliable than ZiG, and second, that it is far more prestigious to use foreign money than our own. 

This elitist preference directly fuels the rejection of ZiG by ordinary Zimbabweans. 

It signals to the street that the local currency is a second-class tier of money, designed only for those who lack the political connections to access foreign exchange.

This disconnect leaves everyday citizens asking a fundamental question: why should ordinary folk be the ones expected to accept a currency that the rich, powerful, and well-connected reject?

The consequence of this double standard is dangerous. 

We are increasingly believing that the government is deliberately engineering two separate, unequal economic systems in Zimbabwe. 

There is an elite economy for the ruling class, insulated and powered by the stability of the US dollar, and a survival economy for the rest of us, who are forced to navigate the restrictions of the ZiG.

No amount of gold bars in the Reserve Bank vaults can offset the psychological damage of a government that does not eat its own cooking. 

True currency reform does not begin with an administrative checklist or regional macroeconomic convergence criteria. 

It begins with political will. 

Until the government mandates that passports, fuel, and elite transactions are cleared exclusively in ZiG, the central bank’s eight conditions are nothing more than academic exercises. 

True confidence flows from the top down.

Until the elite stop hoarding the greenback, ZiG will remain a currency rejected by the very citizens forced to carry it.

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