By Margaret Kamba

In weeks leading up to the Monetary Statement by the newly appointed Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mushayavanhu, there was a lot of anticipation and anxiety which led to the rise of the RTGs rate. People were not quite sure what would happen hence the outcome of their actions. 

The announcement of the new currency has not made things any better because once again, that uncertainty is resulting in people refusing to accept the RTGs. 

Commuter omnibus conductors have turned into marriage officers literally asking people to exchange the notes and simply handover the USD to them.

Those with RTGs Bank accounts can simply go and deposit those notes with no problems unless of course they have been hoarding them above the normal for an individual or company.

This new currency announcement has ignited a lot of opinions from the public who share question the rationale behind the currency name, behind a constant change in currency and if at all this move will instill any confidence in the local currency despite it being gold-backed.

But what is a country without its own currency? What is a country without this medium of financial exchange that it can call its own?

Our friends in the region have their currencies and will never allow the United States Dollar to be a medium of exchange. You simply go into the bank and exchange the dollar for local currency.

What then is it with the Zimbabwean economy that it's local people will outrightly reject their local currency without even trying? What is it about the Zimbabwean mentality that it simply hotwired to deny itself of its birthright to accept one in which they are inferior?

Despite the efforts we see being made to decolonize the mind, you still find an indigenous radio show presenter requesting people to spell words in English and laugh about wrongly spelt casually as though the failure to correctly spell that word means the end of the world.

The country is struggling with men and women who simply do not know who they are because they follow foreign traditions which they think are better than their own.

How do you help someone step out of their bubble which prevents them to see the developments taking place around them? How do you help someone awaken from an illusion that has literally bound them and that of their next generations?

Unless we take the first step of opening up and loving ourselves, loving our country, loving our currency, loving who we are as a people, then we sure have a serious problem.

Unless we allow our minds to soak in the current narrative of building our country for ourselves and those yet unborn, then we surely need deliverance. 

There's no ways about it, accept it or not, this is what is here and there's no stopping it. Get used to it.