Civil servants stranded as ZiG collapses
Some big shops around the country are rejecting ZiG (swipe), leaving many civil servants, who receive their salaries in local currency, stranded.
Masvingo has the largest number of such shops denying ZiG, with Nyaningwe Supermarket and Bhola Hypermarket being the most notorious.
This comes as members of the public are struggling to access ZiG notes which remain scarce, four months after the launch of the currency.
Last month, the state media reported that some businesses in Bulawayo had resorted to feigning network issues with their point-of-sale (POS) machines as a pretext to exclusively demand foreign currency transactions.
The report identified Greens Supermarket and Oceans, two retail outlets in Bulawayo, among those that were allegedly turning away shoppers attempting to pay electronically in the local currency, claiming their POS systems were not functional.
Mthokozisi Nkosi, the chairperson of the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), said the Commission would take action against shops that were unlawfully rejecting the ZiG as a means of payment. Said Nkosi:
We understand technology fails at times. We equally understand that it is serviceable, hence no reason to continuously claim the system is out of order.
Let these businesses be warned that we cannot be bystanders when they flagrantly violate consumer laws.
The law is clear that we are in a multi-currency regime and consumers have a choice on which currency to use as they transact.
We are coming after these unscrupulous businesses. Our Bulawayo office is going to be descending on these rogue elements.
We strongly warn them to stop this practice forthwith.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mushayavanhu recently said the ZiG now accounts for approximately 30% of all transactions in the economy, up from 20% at the time of its introduction in April 2024.
When the ZiG was first introduced on April 5, 2024, the central bank estimated that between 80 and 85% of all transactions in the economy were settled using US dollars, with the remaining balance in the former Zimbabwean dollar, which was replaced by the ZiG.
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