I'm a Millionaire!

      One of my best-kept secrets, at least until this moment in time, is that I am a multi-millionaire. Now, there's a statement to set the pulses quickening and the heart racing! The problem is that all of my millions are in cash-strapped Zimbabwe, and even if I spent them all at once, would not even buy me a bag of mealie-meal or even a solitary loaf of bread, such is the rampant inflation in the land that lies in tatters as a result of thirty years of despotic Robert Mugabe's iron rule.
      In January 2009, new hit the Press that Zimbabwe was to issue its first 100 Trillion Dollar note, and there is a picture of it at the top of this column. Yes, that's the real thing folks, not a film-maker's dream! When it was first issued it was valued at about US$300, but I guess that about an hour later that was reduced by at least 5% due to the rampant inflation.
      To put its value in perspective it's useful to know that at the time of issue a loaf of bread cost about 300 Billion Zimbabwean Dollars, and with the currency in free-fall, that price increases on a daily basis.
      There's an expression about the fact that sometimes things are not worth the paper that they are printed on, and whilst that usually applies to the promises of politicians, used-car salesmen and insurance sales staff, it is most aptly applied to Zimbabwean currency.