Operation Sunrise
5 Dollars ZIM38

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Note Details

Set Details
Note Description: Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
5 Dollars 2006 - Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird
Grade: 68 EPQ
Country: ZIM
Note Number: ZIM38
Signatures/
Vignettes:		 - Sign. #8
Certification #: 8046919-079  
Owner: Revenant
Sets Competing: Operation Sunrise  Score: 50
Date Added: 6/1/2019
Research: See PMG's Census Report for this Note

Owner's Description

At the time it was announced in 2005, some called “Operation Sunrise,” “Murambatsvina Part 2.” So, what was “Murambatsvina?”

Operation Murambatsvina (“Drive out the Filth”) was a 2005 operation, also called “Operation Restore Order,” which was officially called a “slum clearance program” intended to flush out “criminals.” On article I found said it started on 19 May 2005, “with little or no warning.” It was officially announced to be over on 25 June 2005, but then Vice President Mujuru said it was “now complete” on 28 July 2005. But then some sources from after the fact call it a “winter 2005 operation.” So exactly when it ended seems a bit… “fuzzy.”

More than 700,000 people were left homeless after houses and shacks were bulldozed, informal trader’s stalls were demolished and their goods were confiscated. Some estimates put the number impacted at 2.4 million. UN Special Envoy Anna Tibalijuka called it a breach of national and international human rights laws. General Constantine Chiwenga, the chief of the national defense forces, and the chief of police Augustine Chihuri were both involved in the planning and execution of the program. Chihuri reportedly said it was to “clean the country of the crawling mass of maggots bent on destroying the economy.” International Legal Experts said if Zimbabwe had signed the Rome Treaty the perpetrators of this program would have needed to face trial at the ICC for human rights violations.

Many in Zimbabwe have claimed the whole thing was politically motivated because it came with so little warning and started just 1.5 months after disputed parliamentary elections that didn’t go well for ZANU-PF on 31 Mar 2005. It was claimed that the whole thing was really meant to, among other things, weaken the opposition and exact a measure of retribution. Others have claimed it was an attempt to seize foreign currency and disrupt foreign currency transactions because many of the stalls targeted were believed to be black market stalls and some supposedly were just retail fronts for businesses that primarily operated as foreign currency traders. People claiming this pointed to the heavy involvement of Dr Gideon Gono in the planning and execution of the program.

With 1 ZWN being worth 1000 ZWD, this note would have had the same value as the P-13 $5,000 Cargill Bearer Checks, the P-16 $5,000 traveler’s checks and the P-21 $5,000 Emergency Bearer Checks.

Where the balancing rocks are a major design feature on the front of the banknotes, with the checks of this series they appear only as part of the seal of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

On the back, the bearer checks of this series feature different designs, emphasizing things of national or cultural significance, much like the first dollar banknotes that came before them. In that regard, these bearer checks are a bit of a cross between the bearer checks and the banknotes of the first dollars in terms of design.

These 5-dollar bearer checks (ZIM38) feature an image of torch in Harare (capital city) that represents “The Eternal Flame of Freedom.” This image originally premiered on the 10-dollar note (ZIM3) in the early 1980s. However, that note (ZIM3) is mostly red. This note has a lot green and some cream-like colors. This image also appears on ZIM56 (25 Million ZWN). This torch / monument (which is lit during independence day celebrations in Zimbabwe) didn’t appear again in the 3rd dollar series but made a comeback in the 4th dollar series on the 100 dollar note (ZIM97) – one of the last notes made before the currency was abandoned / suspended for 10 years in 2009.

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