Crisis Days Again. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for Zimbabwe?

Elections are over. Maybe we can now focus on the business of rebuilding the nation. September and October have been particularly tough for Zimbabwe; first, the cholera epidemic, and then the shortages of essential grocery items. Something is missing- a coherent solution for our seemingly unending crisis. For the majority of Zimbabweans, the unfolding crisis conjures unpleasant memories of 2008 – runaway inflation, shortage of goods, including fuel and of course hopelessness. Is the crisis back- so soon? Or it never left. Currently, the government does not seem to have a clear and coherent plan to deal with the contemporary complex challenges inherent in our political economy – at least in the short term. The Minister of Finance has been clear about the need to re-engage the country’s creditors around some form of an economic stabilisation programme, a measure similar to the Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP) of the 1990s. The same Minister has been incoherent when it comes to dealing with the elephant in the room-the shortage of cash. Initially, he sounded like he was on the path to demonetise the bond note, but suddenly took a U-turn and claimed that he had secured a facility to keep the rate between the bond note to the USD at 1:1. True to the government’s custom of doing business, we never get to see such agreements; we just have to believe them. However, despite all attempts at calming down the market, there is still evidence of fuel shortages, astronomical price increases (in the range of 300% since August), even for goods manufactured locally, and the rate between the Bond/RTGS and the real USD keeps on growing. It is evidently not well in our country. Is there another way? There must be. First, we discuss the shortcomings of the existing strategy and proceed to proffer suggestions on what can be done.