“Damage Has Been Done”: Biti On Repealing Of Controversial SI 81A Of 2024

Through
SI
34
of
2025,
the
regime
has
repealed
SI
81A
of
2024
which
regulation
prevented
retailers
from
putting
an
exchange
rate
mark-up
of
5
%above
official
exchange
rate.

SI
81
A
represented
a
toxic
attempt
to
fix
the
exchange
rate
and
protect
a
discredited
and
tattered
local
currency

A
fixed
exchange
rate
has
created
arbitrage
in
the
economy
and
the
expansion
of
the
cash
rich
informal
sector.

The
fixed
exchange
rate
has
led
to
massive
de
industrialization
&
capital
flight
from
Zim.
Yet
at
the
same
time
it
has
allowed
ZANU
cronies
&
cartels
to
loot.

He
said
that
while
the
general
public
suffered,
politically
connected
individuals
benefited,
enriching
themselves
through
access
to
cheap
foreign
currency.

Biti
called
the
Reserve
Bank
a
“crime
scene”,
accusing
it
of
allowing
politically
connected
people
to
get
cheap
U.S.
dollars
at
an
unrealistic
official
exchange
rate,
and
slammed
the
Dutch
Auction
System
(introduced
in
2020),
saying
it
was
a
scam.
He
said:

The
Reserve
Bank
was
a
crime
scene
that
allowed
cronies
to
access
cheap
foreign
currency
through
the
medium
of
a
fake
exchange
rate.

The
now
disbanded
Dutch
Auction
system
introduced
in
June
of
2020
was
one
of
the
biggest
all
time
scams
in
post
independent
Zim.

US$4.08
billion
was
disbursed
&yet
the
country
has
nothing
to
show
of
it
except
mansions
&
Bentleys
in
Shawasha
Hills.

SI
81A
should
never
have
been
enacted.
Its
repeal
is
neither
progress
nor
a
damascene
moment.

Those
celebrating
same
are
naive.Damage
has
been
done
which
requires
boldness.

Biti
proposed
a
clear,
bold
economic
direction
which
guarantees
the
use
of
the
U.S.
dollar
beyond
2030,
and
allow
the
new
currency
(ZIG)
to
float
freely,
not
be
pegged.
He
said:

In
our
view
there
must
be
unequivocal
guarantees
that
the
US$
will
exist
beyond
2030,
ZIG
must
be
floated
and
Export
Surrender
Requirements
scrapped.

The
regime
must
stop
printing
money
&
live
within
its
means
The
debt
question
must
be
addressed
urgently&
corruption
must
stop.

Biti
said
ZANU-PF
is
incapable
of
fixing
the
economy,
accusing
the
party
of
being
more
focused
on
internal
power
struggles,
obsessed
with
retaining
power,
and
suppressing
citizens
and
dissent.

He
called
for
a
“new
consensus”
and
“a
new
beginning,”
though
he
did
not
provide
details
on
what
that
would
entail.