Gideon Gono, the controversial former governor of Zimbabwe’s central bank accused by many of playing a major role in bankrupting Zimbabwe, has been appointed to chair a new government organisation designed to ease the way for foreign investors.
He will chair a board of the new Special Economic Zones, as they are called, which will operate in different parts of the country.
After land invasions began in 2000 in Zimbabwe, exports shrunk and so did foreign currency while inflation soared. Gono chose to keep on printing ever higher denomination of the local currency until eventually even a trillion Zimbabwe dollar had no value.
With world record-breaking inflation there were empty supermarkets, empty hospitals and empty schools. Zimbabweans then abandoned their worthless currency and defied the law and began trading openly, for the first time, in US dollars and the South African Rand.
When an inclusive government came to power in 2009 the new finance ministry made all major foreign currencies legal tender. Gono remained in office, but kept a low profile and quit the central bank in 2013.
He will now head up the 11-man Special Economic Zone board which he says will be a one-stop shop to speedily process documentation and permits for any foreign investment.
Zimbabweans now mostly use US dollars but they are in short supply in the country. Last November a new interim currency, known as Bond Notes, was introduced in low denominations. But even this has done little to ease the critical cash shortage. Zimbabwe is also struggling to pay for its imports which mainly come from South Africa.
In his acceptance speech, Gono said the board will adhere to the Act that required the advancement of an export generating strategy and support import substitution initiatives, so as to reduce the import bill without compromising quality, price and timely availability of products or services.
“We want to assure all Zimbabweans that this board will brook no misdirection from any quarter seeking to advance any form of ‘ism’, political, ethnic, regional or otherwise, which is not provided for by the Act.” - Independent Foreign Service