Zimbabwe: 2007 till Mugabe resigns

[Stan]

Great post, Tom !
My singular visit to Zimbabwe via Lubumbashi was a food run for the Consulate. Great steaks, cheap prices and wonderful Aussie accents! Even then in 86, rough cut stones (purportedly from Zaire’s southern province) and lots of malachite could be had in the markets, but only in exchange for hard currencies.

Rates of Exchange (ROE) (DIA adopted that acronym from Rules of Engagement, which actually means the same thing): When I arrived in Zaire, the official ROE was 50 Makutas (one half of a Zaire, or 50 cents if you will) to one USD, and the black market rate (directly in front of the US Embassy and known as Wall Street) was 25 to 28 Zaires to one USD.

When I departed in late 94 the rates were more than 5 million Zaires to one USD

In order to eat in any restaurant, one would need a briefcase. Most of us paid in USD or held a credit account til the end of the month.

Grocery stores did not post prices on the shelves. The value of your purchase was calculated during the arduous process of ringing up your total.

I think Zimbabwe is in for a rough ride, but could they handle the depth and finesse of professional corruption that Zairians invented/perfected

[davidbfpo]

I visited Zimbabwe in 1985, on a research holiday and was impressed at it's natural and human resources. Sadly it has slipped away, largely due to a regime that is interested in clinging to power and having all the "cake". For many years I've been a member of a friendship group, which originally was dominated by ZANU PF sympathisers - who now are very quiet or gone. Their email circulars are often too sad to read, notably the on the ground reports by a long time resident Jesuit priest.

No wonder so many have left the country in the last decade, with an alleged 300k in the UK alone and far more in South Africa.

davidbfpo

[Chris Albon]

No wonder so many have left the country in the last decade, with an alleged 300k in the UK alone and far more in South Africa.

I can personally attest to this. My family is from Zimbabwe. Every one of my family members has fled Zim, the last being my grandmother who fled to England a year or two ago.

Just to give you some perspective: For a few years calling her was hit or miss because people were stealing the copper telephone wires.

[SWCAdmin]

Every once in a while, when I contemplate the price of cars these days, I flash back to watching the Price is Right and wondering whether the price (4 digit) of the car would start with a 3 or a 4. Wow.

Then I think of Zaire and it puts it back in perspective. I wandered through in 92 or 93, just when the 5 million Z note was coming out, which was an issue in its own right. The Marine Det fronted me $50 in local sheckles. I was there for 3 days, spent nothing. Gave them back the same amount of sheckles, plus a check for about $19 I think to make up for the depreciation of the cash during the short time I held it.

One of the local semi-American guys, late 20s / early 30s maybe, told me he could remember as a kid his mom giving him 1 Z, then worth $2, and he could live large and go get a full-on burger, fries, etc. It was something for him to look at a 5 million Z note and not be able to even get a burger with it.

[Stan]

Every once in a while, when I contemplate the price of cars these days...

Then I think of Zaire and it puts it back in perspective...

Bill, I had no idea you visited our tiny community. I'd assume you were not a DIA visitor, or, I was once again out of town.

With your nostalgic post, here's some pics to reminisce

[Tom Odom]

Man those must be mint 50 Makuta's

Let's see 100 Makuta to a Zaire and 5 Million Zaires to a dollar, that means they were worth 1/500 Million of a dollar....

Anybody got change for a 50 Makuta?

[Stan]

Man those must be mint 50 Makuta's

Remember how they wrapped 25 notes together using the 25th like a taco around the other 24 ? I had a stack of those and never once handled, intent on creating a new Monopoly game called Zaire in Maryland . That idea never really took hold, but my sister, a MD banker showed her friends my 84 funny money. Later some of those people fired up a website and posted all that Sierra there. I must have sent them everything I ever found in Zaire.

Good stuff, aye !
EDIT: Best thing about this Mo Money is the serial number is only on one side. The scans are actually two bills