Gradually, Then Suddenly
ZIM37, 2006, 1 ZWN

Slot Comment:

2nd Dollar Emergency Bearer Check AA Prefix

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Note Details

  

Set Details
Note Description: 1 Dollar 2006 - Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird
Grade: 66 EPQ
Country: Zimbabwe
Note Number: ZIM37
Signatures/
Vignettes: 		- Sign. #8
Certification #: 8046919-051
Owner: Revenant
Set Category: World
Set Name: Gradually, Then Suddenly
Slot Name: ZIM37, 2006, 1 ZWN
Research: See PMG's Census Report for this Note

Owner's Description

The Third Chimurenga (Shona word for “Struggle”), aka the Fast Track Land Reform Program of 2000 transferred about 4,500 farms from whites to landless blacks in the country - supposedly. There were reports at the time of farms actually going to well-connected elites in the government and armed forces, with General Constantine Chiwenga supposedly receiving 17 farms since 2000. Many of the new owners were then unable to succeed because the government failed to supply or make available agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizer).

Chirurenga was the name given to the program because it was also the name used for the indigenous resistance against British settlers from 1896-1987 - that was “the first Chirurenga.” That period is also sometimes called the “War of Primary Resistance.” The War of Independence / Civil War that lasted from the mid-1960s to 1980, and which saw Rhodesia become Zimbabwe, became known as the “Second Chirurenga.” So, calling this “the Third Chirurenga” is yet another case of a corrupt government trying to wrap their corrupt efforts in an air of legitimacy by linking it to the pre-colonial past of the country - similar to some of what was happening in Venezuela during the same period.

But the Third Chirurenga helped set the stage for Operation Maguta - and, really, the whole collapse of the country and economy.

Operation Maguta (“People have had their fill”), launched in 2005, saw soldiers sent to farms - former commercial farms identified as being “under-utilized” - to produce maize in an attempt to boost domestic food production - which had been tanking. Farmers were told to plant maize and wheat at the expense of other crops.

The program was supposed to produce 2.3 million tonnes of maize, 90000 tonnes of tobacco, 49500 tonnes of maize seed, 210000 tonnes of cotton, 8250 tonnes of tea and 750000 tonnes of other crops. It was supposed produce enough to build up strategic national reserves and ensure food security for the population.

The government declared the program a success every year while not releasing any production figures... In 2007 UN FAO and the World Food Programme said Zimbabwe had a grain deficit of roughly 890,000 tonnes - with domestic production cut in half from 2006 to 2007 because of weather, shortages of key inputs, deteriorating irrigation systems and other infrastructure, and government price controls that made production “financially unviable” - more on that specifically later.

A 2006-dated article from the Independent called Maguta a dismal failure and a flop, and pointed to areas / projects that were supposed to deliver 10,000 tonnes of maize and instead delivered about 10 tonnes. Farmer’s organizations put the 2006 maize production at 600,000-800,000 tonnes - which would only be about one fourth to one third the goal of 2.3 million tonnes. The tobacco production was half the target for that year according to that same article.

Some attributed the failure to a lack of inputs and poor planning - like planting crops late or at generally inappropriate times. There were reports that claimed that some in the military and the politically collected stole farm equipment, fertilizer and other resources or distributed them in a manner that favored the well-connected.

Vice President Mujuru toured some of the farms that first year but cut the trip short in disgust after seeing so many wilted crops and crops that were “total write-off.”

At least one study report I’ve found indicated Operation Maguta was still ongoing in 2009.

With 1 ZWN being worth 1000 ZWD, this note would have had the same value as the P-12 notes that were the highest denomination bank note of the 1st dollar series. It would have also had equal value to the P-15 $1,000 traveler’s 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 1-dollar bearer checks (ZIM37) use the image of a few people working in a rural setting that premiered originally on the 5 dollar (ZIM2) notes in the early 1980s. However, where that note is predominantly green, this one is almost all blue. This image also appears on ZIM39 (10 ZWN), ZIM53 (1 Million ZWN), and ZIM58 (100 Million ZWN). This image reappears in the 4th dollar series on the 1-dollar notes (ZIM92).

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