Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo’s central business district (CBD) resembled a normal day as people thronged banks that opened yesterday as well as shops, pharmacies and the market place with also a marked increase in vehicular traffic.
With the hive of activity, one could be forgiven to assume the lockdown period was over.
President Mnangagwa extended the lockdown on Sunday by two weeks to May 3 as Covid-19 cases are increasing.
As of Monday, 3 308 people had been tested for Covid-19 in the country with three recorded deaths and two recoveries from 25 positive cases recorded so far in the country.
In Bulawayo’s CBD yesterday, there were long queues at banks and supermarkets, with forex remittance outlets arguably having the longest queues.
At the markets, a lot of vendors came all out with their boxes to stock up on fruits and vegetables for resale, while a lot of ordinary people were buying fresh produce in bulk and sharing outside.
Police and the army had to be called to restore order at a Western Union and MoneyGram queue at EcoBank at the corner of Fife Street and 9th Avenue when hundreds of people were demanding their diaspora remittances from the bank.
Most Western Union branches and MoneyGram branches in the city were closed as they reportedly had no money.
Banks re-opened for business yesterday and there were winding queues at NMB, First Capital Bank, NBS, EcoBank and at CBZ.
At most queues people were not adhering to social distancing rules.
Most people in queues said they had walked into the city centre from various suburbs as there is no public transport open to non-essential services staff.At banks, clients who spoke to Chronicle said they had to stand in long queues as they needed the cash for day-to-day expenses as commodities were much cheaper when buying in cash as compared to using electronic transactions. Also, people avoid bank or electronic transaction charges when using cash.For example, at Oceans Supermarket in the city, bread was going for $21 cash and $30 using other payment options which also attracts additional transaction charges.“It’s better to just spend the whole day in the queue knowing that at the end of the day I will buy five items with cash than swiping for only three items at the shops. In Western areas, they charge you $120 for 2kg sugar when swiping but $80 if you are buying in cash. That is why we […]
