Villagers Storm Banks

of sweeping currency reforms that also included a 60 percent devaluation of the local dollar. The new bearer cheques have less zeroes after the central bank slashed three zeroes from every banknote as part of the currency reforms. “The RBZ mobile team operating from Gokwe was overwhelmed by the number of people exchanging the old currency and I had no option except to travel to Bulawayo to change the money,” said a woman who only identified herself as Mai Chipo, explaining why she had travelled hundreds of kilometres from Gokwe to exchange her money in Bulawayo. Other villagers said they had had to travel to Bulawayo because the RBZ’s mobile teams operating in their areas were refusing to change amounts in excess of $10 million in old currency. Sources in the towns of Gwanda, Hwange, Plumtree, Beitbridge and Lupane – all dotted across the vast Matabeleland region in the south-west of the country – told ZimOnline that hundreds of people last night slept in queues at banks and at temporary offices set up by the RBZ there as desperation crept in as the deadline to hand in old currency drew closer.
In Bulawayo, the RBZ office was open to members of the public on Saturday and Sunday but still did not manage to clear the long queues and hundreds of villagers slept in the queue outside the central bank’s office hoping to be the first to be attended to when the bank opened for business on Monday. “I own 10 public commuter omnibuses and over the weekend we were still accepting the old currency from customers and I came here early to exchange my weekend earnings for the new currency, the queues are very long but I have no option except to be patient,” said Joseph Khumalo, who was at the RBZ office laden with canvass bags full of old money. The same rush-hour panicking was visible in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare where by mid-morning banks were full to the brim with depositors hurrying to literally dump their old cash in exchange for new money. Some retail shops and public commuter operators in the capital city were reportedly refusing to accept old money, which however is still valid until midnight today. A newspaper vendor who refused to accept old currency from a ZimOnline reporter said: “Why should I accept this old money when even the big supermarkets are refusing to accept it?” RBZ governor Gideon Gono has warned businesses and all financial institutions to take old currency right up to the deadline but it appears the situation on ground is far different from what the central bank chief may be expecting to see. – ZimOnline