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OpenMahere Critiques RBZ's Stance On ZiG Legal Tender Status
Fadzayi Mahere, a Constitutional Lawyer, Law Lecturer, and Former Member of Parliament, criticised the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for insisting that the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency remains legal tender.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu stated on Monday that the ZiG lost its legal tender status on October 4, when the law that established it expired.
In response, the RBZ’s Corporate Affairs Department explained that the ZiG was established through Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) under S.I. 60 of 2024, representing a one-time act of currency reform.
The Central Bank maintained that currency reform measures do not expire simply because the legal instrument that initiated them has lapsed. Said the RBZ:
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe wishes to advise the public and all stakeholders that there is no gap at law regarding the Zimbabwe Gold currency.
The Zimbabwe Gold currency, (ZiG) was established through Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) proclaimed under S.I 60 of 2024, which constitutes a one-time act of currency reform.
Currency reform measures by their nature do not lapse simply because the instrument that introduced the reforms has lapsed.
The lapsing of the Presidential Temporary Powers that established the currency does not, therefore, create a gap in the law. Legally, currency reform measures are only revoked by another legal instrument.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that The Finance Act which has since been gazetted into law, simply declares the provisions of S.I 60 of 2024 and is not meant to validate them.
Thus, ZiG remains the country’s legal tender, and the Reserve Bank will continue to consolidate its use and stability.
Commenting on the RBZ’s statement, Mahere said the central bank should have remained silent instead of providing an incoherent and legally unsound response. She posted on X:
Dai mangonyarara henyu. If you have a legal department, I’m sure they were not involved in the crafting of this notice. You concede that the legal basis for your zigzag has lapsed yet you suggest that the currency remains legal tender? How? What do you mean when you say the Finance Act declared the provisions of SI 60/24 but doesn’t validate them? So what does it do? What law is that?
This is embarrassing. We need new leaders.
In another post, Mahere said the law establishing the ZIG had a 6-month lifespan, and since that period has elapsed, there is no longer any legal basis for the ZIG. She wrote:
The law that created the ZIG had a 6 month lifespan. 6 months have since passed and there’s no longer any legal basis for the ZIG. It is invalid. It is not *legal* tender.
You don’t enact monetary laws by way of a press release or public notice from the Central Bank.
Legislation must be duly promulgated in line with the constitutionally-mandated law-making process.
Until this is done, the whole country is just playing one big game of Monopoly.
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