ZANU-PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi on Thursday admonished rogue cash dealers and has threatened to storm their alleged sponsors bases amid currency rate fluctuations.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said EcoCash users could now cash out a maximum of ZWL$100 per transaction.
Togarepi, however, said EcoCash dealers had not yet complied with the RBZ instruction, instead ganging up to evade accountability.
In a tweet today, Togarepi warned to expose the so called big people who are sponsoring illegal cash dealers.
“I am told the money making rounds in the streets belongs to some big people. I am also informed the crooks have since mutated to evade measures put to deal with the abuse of some of the EcoCash platforms. From tomorrow, that money will be confiscated, and we are ready to face the sponsors,” Togarepi said.
The illegal practice by EcoCash agents has also reduced the real value of salaries and wages earned by the Zimbabwean worker, with EcoCash agents at times charging as much as 60% in order for one to make a cash out.
The RBZ, according to Governor John Mangudya’s Mid-Term Monetary Policy Review, said plans were afoot to increase cash in circulation to make it easy for the productive sector and ordinary people to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the economy.
“Failure to get cash is undermining the confidence in the local currency, as well as forcing economic agents to resort to illegal transactions in foreign currency and to selling cash at a premium,” he said.
Mangudya said the central bank was immediately going to inject additional cash into the economy on a gradual basis to support productive sectors and lessen the inconveniences caused by physical cash shortages to the transacting public.
Renowned Economist, Eddie Cross revealed that Zimbabwe was going to have a new currency next month and has urged government to increase money supply so that EcoCash agents trading cash would crash out of business, thereby bringing sanity into the economy.
