[Civsoc-mw] In Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

[Tony Thontholani]

Prices have gone up, and the value of bond notes has declined. The official government rate is still 1:1, but on the black market one US dollar buys three dollars in bond. In other words, the current economic situation benefits the elite, who have access to foreign currency, while the masses struggle to make ends meet. 
The average middle-class Zimbabwean now has to rely on at least two sources of income in order to survive. Women catch buses to Zambia at the weekend to buy cheap clothes for re-sale at their places of work. Vaya, a new taxi service modelled on Uber, is growing in popularity, both as a way of earning a few extra dollars between shifts, and as a reasonably affordable alternative to public transport. But the profit margins are extremely small, and the hours are long. Meanwhile, the political elite continues to deny that there is any problem at all.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2019/01/30/leila-sinclair-bright/in-zimbabwe/