Business rejects ZWL$
BUSINESS REPORTER
The businesses are refusing to accept the Zimdollar following the launch of a new currency last week citing uncertainty on the old currency which is expected to expire on April 30.
The Consumer Protection Commission, police and the Financial Intelligence Unit has launched a blitz on the businesses to force them to accept the old currency.
The rejection comes after the central bank postponed the rollout of the new currency.
And this created confusion in the market and affected confidence on yet to issued out currency.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mushayavanhu last Friday introduced a new currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG).
The central bank said the new notes and coins would be rolled out on April 30.
This has left citizens stranded as some shops refuse to accept the Zimdollar. Those that are accepting the Zimdollar are using ridiculous rates to convert it.
Consumer Protection Commission research and public affairs manager Kudakwashe Mudereri confirmed that they had received complaints from customers of unscrupulous businesses refusing to accept ZWL$ notes, in violation of government policy.
“It is important to note that the ZWL$ remains legal tender and the country’s citizens have been given 21 days to change their ZWL$ notes and coins to ZiG,” Mudereri said.
“The penalty is going to be heavy on those found violating Exchange Control Regulations by refusing to accept ZWL$ notes.”
Among those affected were consumers who were failing to buy Zesa tokens with the new local currency.
The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration was yesterday also refusing to accept the local currency at tollgates arguing that the government had banned the local currency.
The situation has been worsened by banks that have taken longer than expected to convert the ZWL$ balances to ZiG as fear swirled that the move could negatively impact the reception of the new currency.
Only African Century, POSB, EmpowerBank, Stanbic Bank, O’mari MyCash and EcoCash had successfully completed the currency conversion.
Zimbabwe has 19 banks made up of 14 commercial banks, four building societies and one savings bank.