For six months leading up to their issue, Zimbabwe's "bond notes" - which were finally released on Monday by the central bank - were mocked for being "bond paper" and "bollars", the latter ridiculing their decreed 1:1 value to the US dollar. Protests in Harare and court challenges flared in the run-up to the bond notes launch, as citizens resisted what is widely seen as a backdoor reintroduction of the defunct Zimbabwe dollar last used in 2009. Still, President Robert Mugabe's government went ahead. Despite the fear and loathing over the new notes, authorities have called on citizens to "embrace the bond notes" - the cornerstone message of the central bank's nationwide publicity blitz. Zimbabwe faces its most severe cash shortage yet: banks have run out of US dollars, depositors face strict daily withdrawal limits of $50 (about R700) and the state is struggling each month to pay civil servants. There is also an eerie silence over the payment of bonuses for state employees - these ar...
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