Tendai Biti Reduces Gideon Gono To Tears
Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 September 2009 With apologies to Oscar Wilde, we can call this latest development "The Importance of Being Tendai Biti". The Reserve Bank was literally in tears yesterday as it told State media that Gideon Gono has "appealed" to the Principals in the Zimbabwe government for them to help unlock the US$510 million that was deposited by the IMF into the Reserve Bank account on 26th August this year. The money, on which Gideon Gono had already started issuing orders to the IMF, was frozen in that account on the orders of Tendai Biti. He says, in so doing, he has blocked certain elements from abusing the money. Munyaradzi Kereke, a senior RBZ official who spoke to the state media (on Gono's behalf, it was said), said his boss had asked the Principals to "urgently intervene and unlock the US$510 because not doing so will have serious effects on the economy." Biti promptly responded yesterday by saying that his statement from last week st...