Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Gideon Gono's appointment as Finance Secretary for ZANU PF's Manicaland Province has been reversed on orders from above, making it certain that he will now not be leaving the Reserve Bank as most of us had read. Mugabe would have lost a lot of face if this had happened because he takes little things like these as demonstrations of his power. If he says "Gono is not going anywhere. He has done no wrong, I said show me the wrong he has done", he does not expect to have to go back on that publicly. Hopes dashed, then. Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 November 2009 Embattled Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has had his appointment to the ZANU PF Manicaland Provincial Executive reversed on the order of the "national office" of ZANU PF. Some in Zimbabwe and elsewhere will be disappointed. The appointment (Gono had been "co-opted, not elected, to the post of Secretary of Finance) had raised hopes that the Governor will now have to go, since his being a ZANU PF official ...

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister and MDC-Tsvangirai Secretary-General has totally capitulated to Mugabe and ZANU PF on matters of fundamental principle Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 November 2009 Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono, has been granted immunity from prosecution on any actions "taken in good faith" in the revised Reserve Bank Act passed by Parliament this week. That is right, he gets away scot-free. ZANU PF, Mugabe's party, had threatened to defeat the Amended Act if Tendai Biti, Finance Minister, refused to amend his amendments. The ZANU PF caucus in the House breathed fire on Tuesday this week, saying the Bill as presented by Biti was aimed at a person and not at institutional reform. It is now clear that they wanted to protect Gono from any action that could arise if his past behaviour was held up to the mirror of the new law. Some of the other amendments agreed to by Biti was a curtailing of the powers that had been to give by the original proposed Act. ...

"No More" - Tendai Biti's proposed amendments to the Rserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act are designed to ensure that the Bank does not revert to being a funder of lavish lifestyles for Zimbabwe's elite from ZANU PF. Gono is put in such a straight jacket by the revisions that he will effectively need the Minister's permission to so much as cough and sneeze. Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009 I was rather surprised that even our most senior businesspeople in Zimbabwe are unaware of the details contained in the revision of the Reserve Bank Act, which Mugabe's ZANU PF has now said will never see the light of day. Why so much noise, and what exactly is Tendai Biti trying to do with this amendment that has got ZANU PF knickers in a twist? Is it true what the party is saying, that the Act revision is targeted at an individual? Here's the detail, then. The focus of the amendments is on Section 6 of the RBZ Act, which will be amended to say that the Bank should only focus ...