Today the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange will resume operations. This is after the government shutdown the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange weeks ago accusing several companies of economic sabotage and causing the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar. The government promised the exchange would be reopened after investigations had rooted out the perpetrators of this alleged sabotage. Economists had scoffed at the government’s move and allegations calling them basesless and the shutdown of the exchange damaging to the entire economy.
Further to the announcement by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development on July 28, 2020 that investigations into the dealings on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Limited (“ZSE”) had been completed and that as a condition for the resumption of trading on the ZSE from August 3 2020, trading in, inter alia, the shares of Seed Co International Limited (“Seed Co International”) is to remain suspended, the ZSE and Seed Co International wish to notify the market as follows;“The press statement issued by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development noted that Seed Co International was not involved in any malpractice linked to the parallel foreign currency market.
Old Mutual and ZSE’s statement on the issue.
It is also not surprising that no one was charged in the investigation as the allegations by the government seemed to have lacked a basic understanding of how stock exchanges work. However, the government still got its way even after admitting that dual listed companies had done nothing wrong. The government have still managed to get the shares of Old Mutual, SeedCo and PPC suspended pending the opening of a Victoria Falls Exchange (VFX). It’s not clear when VFX will commence operations.
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