Zimbabweans are not embracing the ZiG, Mr. Mushayavanhu — they’re simply disposing of it!

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) wants us to believe that the growing number of transactions conducted in the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) is a sign of renewed public confidence in the local currency.

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But let us not be deceived.

The truth is far less flattering.

What we are witnessing is not the acceptance of the ZiG—it is its rejection.

Zimbabweans are not embracing the currency; they are getting rid of it as quickly as possible, using every available means—cash, POS, or electronic transfers—before it loses value.

This is not confidence; it is a collective attempt by a people long-burnt by their government to dump a currency they know will not last.

Let’s be frank — if I have both USD and ZiG, chances are very high that, unless in unavoidable situations like buying fuel for my car, I’ll use the ZiG for most of my grocery purchases and electricity payments, while keeping the USD as a sure store of value.

Why?

Because history has taught us to never hold on to a Zimbabwean government-issued currency for too long.

That is not faith—it is fear, shaped by experience and survival instinct.

The RBZ’s recently published ZiG Perception and Confidence Survey II is little more than a propaganda exercise dressed up as economic analysis.

The so-called “surge in acceptance” to over 90 percent is not a reflection of growing trust, but the product of coercion and limited choice.

When the government decrees that all businesses must accept the ZiG and simultaneously promotes de-dollarisation through policy pressure and incentives, naturally, the use of the local currency will appear to rise.

But that doesn’t mean people have confidence in it — it simply means they are complying with policy, not embracing it by choice.

This is artificial acceptance, not genuine adoption.

The RBZ boasts that nearly half of all National Payment System transactions are now in ZiG.

Yet, the same institution tightly controls the availability of ZiG notes and coins, keeping cash scarce and thereby creating a false impression of stability.

In reality, the so-called “strong” ZiG is propped up by administrative controls, not economic fundamentals.

When a currency’s stability is sustained by the government’s firm hand on the tap—deciding who gets access to cash and who doesn’t—its collapse is merely delayed, not prevented.

For the ordinary Zimbabwean, the ZiG is just another in a long line of failed currencies—bearer cheques, Agro bills, bond notes, and RTGS dollars—all of which the RBZ once swore were sound and stable.

Each of these currencies followed the same tragic pattern: fanfare and optimism at launch, enforced use, temporary calm, and then inevitable collapse.

What the RBZ calls “restored monetary discipline” is in fact state-imposed austerity and monetary strangulation.

Ordinary citizens are being forced to accept a currency they neither trust nor want.

The trauma of hyperinflation is still vivid in our collective memory.

We remember how life savings evaporated overnight.

We remember how pensioners were reduced to paupers, and how the local currency became so worthless that people carried it in plastic bags to buy bread.

No amount of “confidence surveys” or official declarations can erase that history.

Trust, once broken at such a level, cannot be restored through public relations gimmicks.

It must be earned through consistent policy integrity, and this government has done nothing to earn that trust back.

Even the RBZ’s proud claim that the ZiG is “gold-backed” collapses under scrutiny.

The supposed US$900 million in gold and foreign currency reserves backing the ZiG is laughably inadequate when compared to the country’s import requirements.

That amount is barely enough to cover two months of imports in an economy that consumes over US$4 billion worth of goods and services annually.

A genuinely gold-backed currency requires reserves sufficient to defend its value under pressure.

In Zimbabwe’s case, the reserves are a fig leaf covering a naked truth: there is no real backing, only illusion.

To make matters worse, there is no independent verification or audit to confirm the existence or authenticity of even this US$900 million, leaving ordinary citizens to rely solely on government claims.

Moreover, the ZiG remains invisible on the global stage.

It is not exchangeable with any major currency, nor is it quoted on international forex markets—not even in neighbouring countries like South Africa, Zambia, or Mozambique.

This isolation exposes the RBZ’s hollow claims of stability and international confidence.

A currency that cannot be traded beyond its borders is not a currency—it is a local token of convenience, good only within a controlled domestic space.

If the ZiG were truly credible, it would find its place in regional or international exchange systems.

The fact that it hasn’t says everything about the lack of faith even outside Zimbabwe.

Let us not forget that the RBZ has been here before, making the same promises and using the same language.

We were told the bond note was “at par with the US dollar.”

We were told the RTGS would “restore monetary sovereignty.”

Each time, those assurances ended in economic disaster and public humiliation.

Why should we believe them now?

The mere change of name—from Bond to RTGS to ZiG—does not transform a failed monetary system into a trustworthy one.

You can repaint a collapsing house, but the cracks remain.

If the government and the RBZ genuinely want Zimbabweans to trust the local currency, the solution is not in tighter controls or grandiose statements.

Confidence cannot be legislated; it must be earned.

That begins with transparency and accountability.

Let the RBZ open its books to public and independent audit so that Zimbabweans can see, in clear terms, what really backs the ZiG.

Let the government stop its reckless spending, which continues to fuel money supply growth and undermine the very stability the central bank claims to have achieved.

The state must also stop using the currency as a political tool.

Every attempt at forced de-dollarisation has failed because it was driven by political optics rather than economic realism.

The fact remains that the US dollar dominates over 70 percent of all actual trade and savings in Zimbabwe, regardless of what the RBZ’s internal surveys claim.

No government decree can override the economic reality that people will always prefer a stable, trusted currency over a manipulated, state-controlled one.

For ordinary Zimbabweans, the ZiG represents uncertainty and vulnerability.

People use it only because they must, not because they believe in it.

They spend it quickly, trying to get rid of it before it loses value—exactly as they did with all its predecessors.

This pattern of behaviour alone should tell Dr. John Mushayavanhu and his team all they need to know about the true state of “confidence” in the ZiG.

Zimbabwe’s currency problem is not about economics alone—it is about trust.

As long as the government continues to govern through deception, corruption, and economic mismanagement, no amount of gold reserves or tightly controlled monetary policy will make Zimbabweans believe in any currency it produces.

Trust, like value, cannot be printed.

Until then, the ZiG will remain what it truly is: an unwanted currency that citizens are simply trying to dispose of as quickly as they can.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/