SMALL-TO-MEDIUM enterprises (SMEs) and informal traders have expressed resentment towards bond coins introduced into circulation by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last week.
BATANAI MUTASA/ MAMELO NKOMO
Shallom Projects director Angliston Sibanda said the introduction of the bond coins was a sign of a desperate government.
“Investor confidence has gone down to the lowest ebb. The government is trying to bring back the Zimbabwe dollar clandestinely. Bulawayo being a ghost town without industries, the coins will draw the black market back into action,” Sibanda said.
He indicated that most businesspeople imported and would be forced to seek foreign currency on the black market because the bond coins can only be used within Zimbabwe.
“To me they are just tokens without any monetary value, so I will not accept them.”
A commuter omnibus operator Bongani Gwante also queried the new coins saying the value they were given by RBZ of equivalence to the US dollar was only a claim because they could not be used beyond the country’s borders.
“We import most of our spares and it is very difficult to accept such localised money,” Gwante said.
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Vendors shunned the coins as they rejected attempts to pay using the bonds. Another proprietor, who preferred anonymity, described introduction of the bond coins as a fraudulent plot whereby the apex bank would hoard people’s money and replace it with stones.
“They have produced 10 million in small denominations which people cannot use anywhere. That is daylight robbery. Remember they did the same when they started the ‘money burning’ era and took all our US dollars leaving us with figures in the bank which up to now are of no use,” he said.
