When things keep getting worse: Zimbabwe Financial Crisis

People queuing at Bulawayo Main POSB (image taken from Southern eye)

I went to one of Zimbabwe POSB branch yesterday aiming to withdraw money but after being in the long queue for about 20 mins, the security guard started telling people that there was no money so we should come back tomorrow (that is today). Went back again today as we were told. Before l even opened the door of the bank, l realised that there was no queue. This shocked me because in Zimbabwe it is rare not to find a queue anywhere, especially banks. You should see people queuing in banks, it will be as if they are going to withdraw large sums of money when in actual fact, the money is not even enough to sustain them throughout the month. Well since l did not find any queue today, l got inside and l approached the withdrawal counter only to be stopped by the security guard who asked me what l wanted to do. When l told him that l wanted to withdraw money, he gave me the same yesterday’s disappointing answer “Sorry my sister, there is no cash”.

I was disappointed. Then l decided to go to a different POSB branch hoping to get a different response. However to my disappointment again, l received the same answer. I asked when they were expecting to have cash and the guard was not even sure, he just told me to check again tomorrow. I know that l am not the only one who went there to receive the same response and it’s so disappointing because you would have made so many plans for that money only to be told that it’s not there. Imagine some people borrow $0.50 transport money to town, expecting to get money for transport back home after withdrawing. Worse still, what about those who come all the way from rural areas where there are no banks. Some people don’t even have relatives in big cities and their aim is to withdraw money and go back home. What then should these people do?

A friend of mine was telling me that CABS allowed its customers to withdraw maximum of $200. To me, this alludes that there is shortage of money again in that bank which l would like to believe applies to many other banks in the country.

After such a long time with the media debating about the economic meltdown in the country, people expect things to be getting better not worse but the latter is happening. People are struggling to survive on the little salaries they earn, some are jobless just praying for a miracle to happen so that they find themselves employed one day. Well all this is still a fantasy for most people. The situation in the country is getting worse by the day. I know some parents who had to shift their children from the best schools to cheaper ones because they couldn’t afford school fees anymore. I know some people who eat just one meal a day because they cannot afford the basic three meals of the day. Things keep getting worse by the day and citizens wonder what 2016 holds for them, they wonder what the future will be like. #ThinkingOutLoud.