Gono’s new Benz-i infuriates workers denied bonuses

By Lance Guma
08 January 2007

In a country struggling to cope with a critical shortage of foreign currency, the importation of a luxury car costing US$365 000 by the reserve bank governor of all people, has set tongues wagging. A few months after telling Zimbabweans he is yet to receive a salary from the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono is reported to have taken delivery of the latest and probably fastest road legal sedan in the world. His Mercedes Brabus E-class V12 Bi-turbo was imported directly from Germany. According to the weekly Standard newspaper, ‘the importation of the luxurious vehicle has infuriated many workers at RBZ who were denied annual bonuses last November by Gono on the grounds the bank did not have the money.’
The paper says there was a virtual stampede at the bank offices in Harare as workers tried to get to the basement of the 23-storey building. The governor is said to have ordered the removal of the car from the parking bay following the commotion. It’s not yet clear whether Gono has used the bank’s or his own personal money to finance the purchase. What is clear though is that even by the extravagant standards of Zimbabwe’s elite, the Brabus is a bit too expensive. The car set a new world record during the Auto Motor und Sport magazine high-speed tests in Nardo, Italy. The car is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's fastest sedan" with an electronically limited top speed of 330 kilometres per hour.
Critics have pointed to the purchase as demonstrating how Zimbabwe’s elite operates in spite of the poverty surrounding them. The scarce foreign currency, they say, could have purchased medicines and much needed hospital equipment for example. Motoring enthusiast and broadcaster John Matinde told Newsreel, tongue in cheek, that the car was probably the ideal machine ‘for Gono to watch starving peasants from.’ He pointed to the fact the governor was not likely to enjoy the car’s top speeds given the state of roads in Zimbabwe. ‘People who buy that car,’ Matinde added, ‘might as well purchase a fuel station,’ since it is a fuel guzzler. Commenting on the US$365 000 price tag, he felt the money could have helped build ‘a couple of hospitals.’