Pic. Zanu PF supporters josling for grain handouts at Mupandawana Growth Point People's shop
Forget his recent attack on Zanu PF leadership paralysis and indifference being a realisation that change is now imperative George Charamba is on a self enrichment advertising campaign couched in deceptive political backstabbing and ingratiation with boss Robert Mugabe.
Hentac Investments trading as Global Agricultural Services is an obscure company that has emerged in Zimbabwe with the noble objective of providing farming solutions in impoverished Zimbabwe whose backbone Agro Industry is reeling from the aftermath of the chaotic land reforms of 2000 by the Zanu PF regime.
With offices perched in the 2nd Floor of ZFU Building situated at 102 Fife Avenue the hazy company owned by George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru, the Information and Publicity Permanent Secretary who doubles as Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson, the company is one of the many private enterprises of Zanu PF conduits to access funding from the fiscus and benefit Zanu PF apologists.
Operations Manager, Isdore Charamba a brother of the Information and Publicity Secretary is the Key man of the enterprise.
He made some startling revelations about the strategy of the company and its operations.
“We are the only company in the country at present with maize seed stocks stashed throughout the country including at locked Harare Agricultural Show Society exhibition halls in the Harare Show grounds.
Our market intelligence surveys have shown that Farm and City, Seedco and Mashco as well as other established Agro Industry warehousing and distribution enterprises are reeling from forex shortages and at the verge of collapse and we want to meet them on their way down as we shoot up to become the dominant Agro Industry distributor in the country,” he bragged.
Asked how the new enterprise had been selectively sparred the debilitating forex crunch that is threatening established players he disclosed that the established entities are paying the price of bureaucracy and delayed response to fast changing economic conditions that demand on the spot decision making impossible to make in large organisation heavily regulated by policies and procedures.
Asked how bureaucracy inhibited decision making in large and established enterprise to earn forex, Charamba’s brother described in detail how his hazy company earns its forex.
“We have lived for six months without a substantive government and developed strategies to cope without Government support. For some of us what Government does or does not do to regulate trade is no longer of material consequence.
We maintain a balanced mix of our investments between the Zim dollar and Forex because the Zim dollar and other liquid assets are no longer current assets but current liabilities.
What we do is when we need Zim dollars we have a network of individual and company depositors with billions they cannot access in cash and through banned RTGS transfers but can move through cheques.
These healthy Zim dollar account holders desperately need to convert their funds into the more stable forex denomination and give us unbelievable rates for Zim dollar cheque to US dollar.
While many selling a US dollar at a street cash value of ZW$20000,00 we opt for the cheque exchange rate of US$1.00: ZW$7 000 000.00. We then purchase high demand agricultural and other products in short supply using bank certified cheques and immediately sell them on the street at lower than retail prices obtaining in formal retail outlets for cash.
We use that cash to purchase forex at US $1: ZW$20000.00. For argument’s sake if I have US$100.00 I could get a cheque of ZW$700 000 000.00 and within 4 days in place of ZW$2 000 000.00 I would get if I opt for Black Market street cash rate.
There is no wayZW$700 000 000.00 will reduce to ZW$2 000 000.00 in four days or a month for that matter even in our hyper inflationary environment.
Because we are established in this game we have outlets we use cheques to purchase our leisure and daily needs so we get better value for our forex then we would if we were to purchase goods from forex shops priced at US$1:$20 000.00 regardless of how highly priced they are in Zim,” he paused.
So you do not create any value but just circulate money to increase you luxury level in all this because all you have said is you use the same US$100.00 but can acquire ZW$700 000 000.00 worth of goods instead of ZW$2 000 000.00 and thus will have a ZW$698 000 000.00 surplus ZW$ outlay at your disposal, where do you think the goods to support this surplus value at your disposal will come from I enquired.
The answer I got was even more startling.
“We do not baulk from challenges and become refugees like many have done. We simply behave situational and actively participate in the in thing while it last. This is a pyramid type mop up of forex which the haves are better placed to execute than the have-nots and we are only making hay while the sun shines.
By the time the loophole is closed we will have accumulated enough to cushion us against any changes whoever contemplates while we design other methods to cope with the new development however long it takes.
We will not wait for political demagogues to determine our fate during the bickering that has been going on and we will be better placed whatever the outcome of their power bickering games will be,” he added emphatically.
What happens if you get a dud cheque from your connections I asked?
“The risk of a dud cheque is minimal. The cheques we get are written by Bank managers on behalf of their high value clients who have authorised them to engage in this side trading for a commission. As such the cheques are only issued when it has been verified that there are adequate funds in the account of the forex purchaser to meet the cheque.
However if one issues a dud cheque, they will be penalised ZW$100 000 000.00 and we will follow them up and demand cash restitution at the cheque rate agreed at the time of entering the initial transaction and so far we have not had to resort to that action,” he reassured.
All this was being discussed publicly. That is what “burning money” is all about. By accepting a cheque in place of cash one stands to yield an astronomical 34990% increase in ZW$ value at the stroke of a pen and after two days would if he manages transform personal wealth of US$100.00 into personal wealth of US$ 22 413.05 at the official exchange rate of US$1:ZW$312.32 or US$350. 00 at the black Market cash rate of US1: ZW$20 000.00.
The wealthiest formally employed people in Zimbabwe at present are Reserve Bank Employees and Private Bank Managers.
They access large quantities of restricted supplies of ZW dollars by issuing cheques which they channel to hazy traders like Charamba’s Hentac Investments to purchase forex on the street cash Black Market for a fee. They again commission Charamba to trade the purchase US dollars for the Bank controlled cheque rate and on receipt deposit the cheques in their accounts.
Once the cheques are cleared and payment honoured they repeat the process all over making even more enhanced profits from the illicit trade.
That is why any forex in Zimbabwe devalues even where its international value has not altered. Zimbabweans talk of money in thousands upwards regardless of the denomination of the currency they hold.
Charamba will talk of US$100.00 as being worth US$ 22 413.00 to him because as soon as he lays his hands on US$100.00 he has access to the Reserve Bank employees and other Bank Managers who can buy the forex from the Central Bank at US$1: ZW$312.32 after spending the ZW$ 2 000 000.00 on the street market.
That this illicit forex pyramid trade adventure is unsustainable in the long term is not oblivious to Charamba and his foot soldiers but while it lasts nothing can beat its returns. But money does not grow on trees for it to be “burnt” into useful energy or to increase its value to anyone.
It is in that vein that Charamba sought to belittle his Zanu PF associates for being stymied by the current negotiations instead on concentrating on the core business of looting the fiscus in the name of promoting Agro Industry revival when infact all he is doing is enriching himself through this front by mopping up scarce forex on the streets using other people’s funds.
Charamba has not been a change agent neither will he be one in future. The only change he believes in is that which directly enriches Zanu PF acolytes by whatever means at National expense.
When all has been said and done the seed maize he has hoarded and stored in various parts of the country will be for the benefit of Zanu PF apologists financed by taxpayers.
He must be stopped on his economy damaging trails forthwith. His newly found focus on agriculture revival devolves from the failed Reserve Bank driven Bacosi and People’s Shops concept whose operation the writer witnessed firsthand at Mupandawana Growth Point.
Hordes of Zanu PF apologists were captured receiving scarce maize bags from the Mupandawana People’s Shop opposite CABS building Society and behind the Main Post office at the Growth point while thousands of impoverished non Zanu PF supporters were hassling in queues to access restricted cash withdrawals from the nearby CABS, POSB and ZB Banking halls.
On asking an acquaintance how I could also benefit from the proceeds I was asked to produce a letter from the War Veterans Organisation or the Zanu PF party card both of which I did not have at the time.
But a half a kilometre drive to the main Gutu/Bhasera junction with the outlet from the Growth point I was offered a 50kg bag of the same maize a recipient had benefi ted if I carried his loot of five bags to Mushayavanhu some 10-15 kilometres from Mupandawana.
It was tempting but the small and battered car I was driving had no capacity for such a large load so I lost out.
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