{"id":13584,"date":"2012-08-17T02:51:44","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T00:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/08\/insight-zimbabweans-suffer-under-auctioneers-hammer\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T02:51:44","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T00:51:44","slug":"insight-zimbabweans-suffer-under-auctioneers-hammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/insight-zimbabweans-suffer-under-auctioneers-hammer\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIGHT-Zimbabweans suffer under auctioneer’s hammer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Cris Chinaka<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe<\/span> Aug 16 (Reuters) – According to the
\nofficial figures, Zimbabwe’s economy is booming. The agony
\netched on the faces of those in the auction rooms in Chinhoyi,
\nwatching helplessly as prized possessions go for a song, tells a
\nvery different story.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Zimbabweans from all walks of life are drowning in debt
\nafter the implosion of a three-year credit bubble. High-rollers
\nare losing mansions and limousines; ordinary people chickens and
\npots and pans.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The only ones doing well are the auctioneers holding the
\nsales and the newspapers advertising them.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as hammering some of the southern African country’s
\nbiggest firms, the crisis is threatening the stability of its
\nbanks and piling more pain on a population of 13 million
\ntraumatised by a decade of drastic economic decline up to 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It has been a real nightmare,” said Milton, a victim of the
\nburst bubble standing at the back of an auction in Chinhoyi, a
\nfarming town 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Harare.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of fulfilling his ambitions of owning and running a
\ncar workshop, he is watching nervously as his bed, a six-piece
\nlounge suite, refrigerator and stove go under the hammer to try
\nto repay a $1,500 bank loan.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“First, I lost my car over a loan that I used to start this
\nbusiness, and now this. I have to start afresh,” he said, with a
\nsigh.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

When President Robert Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest
\nserving leaders, formed a unity government with rival Morgan
\nTsvangirai after disputed elections in 2008, Milton and
\nthousands of others hoped the former British colony and its
\nonce-vibrant economy had turned the corner.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cris Chinaka CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe Aug 16 (Reuters) – According to the official figures, Zimbabwe’s economy is booming. The agony etched on the faces of those in the auction rooms in Chinhoyi, watching helplessly as prized possessions go for a song, tells a very different story. Zimbabweans from all walks of life are drowning in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-13584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}