In the past week we have seen another collapse of our money system. After about two months of relative stability the rate ran to 25 to 1 on Thursday and everyone was saying it's going to go to 30 to 1. Just like the era from 2000 to 2008 when we simply printed cash and as a result ended up with the highest rate of inflation for nearly 100 years; this time, our beloved Reserve Bank used its capacity to print money electronically and the beneficiaries then used the money to buy real money and our exchange rate fell through the floor.
Those of us who live in this nuthouse said 'here we go again'; the inmates are in charge! We somehow break all the records - almost deliberately, and people who live in 'normal' societies or countries look on in bewilderment. We hold the record for inflation, now we must have just been through the fastest devaluation ever. We are near the bottom of almost every social indicator and we seem to do all these things to ourselves, effortlessly.
Our bulk tanks are full with fuel stocks - but we have queues miles long. We have 10 000 farm dams, a million hectares of irrigation capacity on deep rich soils, yet we are short of all basics and half our population is on food aid. We have mineral riches of every kind you can name yet our exports are half those of Zambia. We have ample raw water supplies but half our urban population has no water supply from our City and Town Administrations.
We have over 100 major hospitals and 1600 primary health care centres, we produce our own doctors and nurses but basic health services for 90 per cent of our population are non-existent. In the same period when China has lifted two thirds of its population out of poverty to middle class status and raised life expectancy from 34 to 65 years - we have halved our life expectancy and become one of the poorest countries in the world on a per capita basis.
What has gone wrong? I think it is time to go back to basics.
Since we had a new Government elected in 2018, we have done a great deal - much of it obscured by the bad things that are going on. Our macro-economic fundamentals are now almost all under control and within acceptable limits. We have an economy that is being liberalised and free market conditions permitted after decades of control and restrictions. But like East Germany after the Wall came down - the people have stores full of goods that no one can afford.