Harare | Tuesday
THE Zimbabwe government on Monday hit out at South African central bank governor Tito Mboweni for blaming the fall of the rand on instability in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said that for South Africa to ascribe every fall of the rand to Zimbabwe “has now become so childish as to convince only those who are either insane or plain incompetent”.
“If true, the remarks are highly sensational, irresponsible, dangerous and therefore most unfortunate,” Moyo said in a statement.
Mboweni was quoted last week by South Africa’s Business Day newspaper as saying that “the wheels have come off in Zimbabwe” due to President Robert Mugabe’s plans to seize 90% of white-owned farms to resettle black farmers and landless peasants.
Moyo said Mboweni should be “more responsible as governor of South Africa’s Reserve bank because of the dignity and sensitivity of the position of his office”.
“The irresponsible remarks attributed to Mr Mboweni are so flippant, ill-considered and ill-informed as to be no different from the usual gibberish churned out by the all too familiar quarters whose agenda against Zimbabwe … is now a public secret,” said Moyo.
On Tuesday, the rand fell to its lowest level ever against the dollar when it closed at 8.44 to the greenback, and on Wednesday it hit record lows against the pound and euro, trading at 12,26 and 7,77 respectively. – AFP