On
Thursday
last
week
the
front-page
headline
in NewsDay,
a
daily
newspaper,
read:
“ZiG
must
go:
Business”
And NewsDay’s
story
began:
“Business
wants
the
Zimbabwe
Gold
(ZiG)
currency
to
be
scrapped
owing
to
its
volatility
…”
Well,
perhaps
their
wish
has
been
met,
at
least
temporarily.
ZiG’s
Origin
The
Zimbabwe
Gold
currency
(ZiG)
came
into
existence
on
the
5th
April
this
year
when
the
President
published
a
set
of
regulations,
the
Presidential
Powers
(Temporary
Measures)
(Amendment
of
Reserve
Bank
of
Zimbabwe
Act
and
Issue
of
Zimbabwe
Gold
Notes
and
Coins)
Regulations,
2024
(SI
60
of
2024) [link].
The
regulations
amended
the
Reserve
Bank
of
Zimbabwe
Act
to
create
the
new
ZiG
currency.
More
specifically,
the
regulations:
-
permitted
the
Reserve
Bank
to
issue
ZiG
notes
and
coins
of
specified
design -
fixed
the
value
of
the
ZiG
against
gold
(though
it
has
since
been
devalued) -
declared
ZiG
to
be
legal
tender
in
all
transactions
and
a
unit
of
account
in
Zimbabwe.
ZiG’s
Demise
The
regulations
which
gave
birth
to
ZiG
were
temporary,
because
section
6(1)
of
the
Presidential
Powers
(Temporary
Measures)
Act
states:
“Unless
they
are
earlier
repealed,
regulations
made
in
terms
of
section
two
shall
expire
and
cease
to
have
any
effect
immediately
before
the
one
hundred
and
eighty-first
day
following
the
date
of
commencement
of
the
regulations.”
And
section
7
of
the
Act
goes
on
to
say:
“…
[W]hen
any
regulations
made
in
terms
of
section
two
expire
or
are
repealed,
any
law
that
was
suspended,
amended
or
modified
by
such
regulations
shall,
with
effect
from
the
date
of
such
expiry
or
repeal,
have
force
in
all
respects
as
it
existed
before
being
suspended,
amended
or
modified
by
the
regulations
concerned.”
Put
simply,
regulations
made
under
the
Act
expire
after
180
days
and
when
they
expire
the
law
reverts
to
what
it
was
before
they
were
made.
In
other
words,
the
regulations
legally
vanish
and
anything
the
regulations
may
have
done
vanishes
too.
Normally
when
the
President
makes
regulations
under
the
Act
they
are
replaced
with
permanent
legislation
before
they
expire,
usually
an
Act
of
Parliament,
and
the
Act
normally
validates
whatever
was
done
under
the
regulations.
That
was
not
done
in
this
case.
On
the
2nd
September
a
Finance
Bill
was
published
in
the
Gazette
which
contains
provisions
re-enacting
the
President’s
regulations
in
permanent
form.
Unfortunately
the
Bill
did
not
become
law
before
the
regulations
expired
on
the
2nd
October
–
in
fact
at
the
time
of
writing
this
bulletin
the
Bill
has
not
yet
become
law.
Although
it
was
passed
by
both
Houses
of
Parliament
and
sent
to
the
President
for
signature
on
the
15th
October
it
has
not
yet
been
published
as
an
Act
of
Parliament.
The
upshot
was
that
when
the
President’s
regulations
expired
on
the
2nd
October,
ZiGs
ceased
to
be
legal
tender
and
in
fact
ceased
to
have
any
legal
existence.
They
still
have
no
legal
existence
–
they
are
dead.
ZiG’s
Resurrection?
When
the
Finance
Bill
is
eventually
published
ZiGs
will
become
legal
tender
again,
but
it
is
not
clear
how
far
the
Bill
will
be
retrospective
–
i.e.
how
far
the
Bill’s
provisions
will
apply
to
ZiG
notes
and
coins
already
issued.
The
main
provision
in
the
Bill,
allowing
the
Reserve
Bank
to
issue
ZiG
notes
and
coins,
is
not
back-dated,
though
it
fixes
the
value
of
the
ZiG
as
at
the
5th
April
–
but
that
value
is
already
out
of
date.
The
Bill
certainly
does
not
take
into
account
the
fact
that
the
ZiG
ceased
to
exist
on
the
2nd
October.
Conclusion
A
clearer
example
of
economic
incompetence
would
be
hard
to
find.
Here
was
a
currency
introduced
with
great
fanfare,
touted
to
become
the
sole
legal
tender
in
Zimbabwe
and
to
replace
the
US
dollar
in
all
internal
transactions
–
and
the
Government
has
let
it
vanish.
So,
to
refer
back
to
the NewsDay article
we
quoted
at
the
beginning
of
this
bulletin,
business
may
have
got
its
wish.
But,
as
the
saying
goes:
Be
careful
of
what
you
wish
for.
Veritas
makes
every
effort
to
ensure
reliable
information,
but
cannot
take
legal
responsibility
for
information
supplied.
Post
published
in:
Business