Villagers lose money after failing to meet currency deadline

By Tererai Karimakwenda
22 August 2006

The deadline for converting old currency to new notes introduced by The Reserve Bank this month arrived Monday as Zimbabweans rushed to spend the last of their old money. The media reported the last minute rush to banks and shops that were swamped with desperate urbanites who feared losing money. But very little attention was paid to rural and communal villagers who received the information too late or had no transport to get to the banks.

Chiredzi farmer Gerry Whitehead told us that thousands of communal villagers in his constituency who live along the Limpopo and beyond did not get radio reports or newspapers. Whitehead was out in these areas on a trip last week and was supposed to return home by Monday. But he told us many villagers approached him seeking transportation to Chiredzi town to convert their money. He helped as many as he could but many were stuck.

Whitehead wrote a diary in which he said: “At 3.30am on the 21st August (last day to change money) I was counting money using the head lights of my vehicle to see with. This was for some farm workers and communal people who live many miles away in the bush. The idea was to try and get back to Chiredzi in time to change it for them. They informed me that many people in the communal areas have not heard about the expiry date of the bearer cheques yet. And those that have would be using all the money that they had to get to a bank anyway. They say and I can confirm that there are no buses to most parts of the communal areas now.”

Whitehead said the villagers are very angry at the uncaring way in which the Mugabe government has implemented this money change. He explained that it has caused more impoverishment and suffering to the poor people who had to keep money at home in order to buy maize meal when and if it became available. Whitehead said: “These people exist almost entirely on hand-outs and money sent to them by relatives who are lucky to have a job in the towns. Many people say that it is not a change of money that we need but a change of government.”

In his travels Whitehead noted that the price of fuel was increasing every other day. He told us that on the 15th August he bought diesel at Z$640,000 per litre in Chiredzi and on the 18th it went up to $680,000 per litre. This is in defiance of a directive issued by RBZ Governor Gono in a statement on Monday. He said that diesel would sell at $350,000. Whitehead said by Monday the price had gone up to Z$700,000 per litre.