HARARE – The unpopular Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya will get a new term from President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the helm of the apex bank, the government announced on Thursday.
The clarification came after speculation swelled on Wednesday that Mangudya would be leaving the RBZ with Andrew Ndaamunhu Bvumbe, who recently left his executive directorship with the World Bank, lined up as his replacement.
“The President is very clear on the Reserve Bank governor’s tenure and his performance. Not only is he there to stay but the President is about to renew his contract for a second tenure,” George Charamba, the deputy cabinet secretary told the official Herald newspaper.
Mangudya’s term is due to expire in April 2019, after he assumed the reins from Gideon Gono on May 1, 2014.
The former Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe CEO has faced demands for his resignation over the failure of the bond notes to maintain parity with the United States dollar, as per his promise when they were first issued in 2016.
“I have high confidence in this measure we are taking. I know it will bear fruits. In the event the bond notes fail, I will surely resign and walk away from the office and leave someone else to take charge because I would have failed the nation,” Mangudya famously said.
Although the government maintains the official position that the bond note is 1:1 with the United States dollar, it is trading for as much as 5:1 on the black market where businesses and individuals seeking foreign currency now do their trade.
