Zimbabwe Absurdity

Having dinner with friends on Monday night one of the other guests commented that the “dollarization” of the economy was just enforcing corruption. The previous week he’d had the electricity cut off for non-payment so he did what we all do. On arriving at the utility’s offices he was ushered in ahead of the queue and a solution was quickly found. For $20 and a lift to his property the power was soon restored. ZESA, the utility, has to accept Zim dollars. As a result the person in the office (others were still on strike) was being paid in local dollars and earning the equivalent $1 a month. No surprise then that he was keen enough to go to work and spot those coming in who were willing to “make a plan”. We were all sympathetic.