A FUNERAL firm, Doves Funeral Assurance, has offered its clients still holding on to Zimdollar policies a lifeline as it said the policies are still valid and would be honoured.
Chief Reporter
It was not immediately clear yesterday how many people still have Zimdollar policies with the funeral firm. Most businesses and clients were adversely affected when the government adopted the multi-currency system in 2009.
In a notice, Doves said affected clients must reactivate their policies. “This note is addressed to Doves policy holders particularly those whose policies are paid up and those who had Zimdollar policies and had not yet opted to reactivate them.
“As advised before, all valid claims on paid-up Zimdollar policies would be honoured in line with terms and conditions as set out in your policy documents.
“There are some Zimdollar policies that had not matured and had been left to lapse. “ This is unnecessary loss of value. We urge all those with lapsed Zimdollar policies to call or come to reclaim their value by reactivating their policies,” part of the statement reads.
In response to 2009 unprecedented hyperinflation, Zimbabwe shelved the local currency and legalised the use of foreign currencies including the Botswana pula, the South African rand, the United States dollar, the euro and the British pound. The highest note previously in circulation, a 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note, was not even enough to buy a loaf of bread.
However, Zanu PF has been repeatedly calling for the reintroduction of the valueless currency to allow transactions in rural areas having difficulties accessing multi-currency. The government seems to have abandoned plans to compensate Zimbabweans whose savings were wiped out after the dollarisation of the economy. Zimbabweans lost out on their valuable savings at the height of the country’s economic malaisé when the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe faced with a hyper-inflationary environment, resorted to printing more money in various denominations in an effort to curb the run-away inflation.
