Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general Japhet Moyo has expressed concern over the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s move to suspend the payment of salaries via mobile money platforms.
Moyo speaks after the RBZ governor, Dr John Mangudya has said “Agents’ mobile money wallets are abolished with immediate effect,” as they were no longer serving any legitimate purpose.
Mangudya also said going forward, any other bulk payment transactions, such as payment of salaries and wages, should be processed through normal banking channels,” not through mobile money platforms as was the case for the past few years.
Speaking to NewsDay Weekender, Moyo said the Zimbabwean economy is informal, a setup that has resultantly caused many businesses to use mobile money platforms as modes of transactions including the payment of salaries. He added:
The way we have done our business over a period of time, we have just informalised everything, so it was a bit easier to make the payments in that platform. We need to know now how these businesses are going to be affected, especially the recipients, that is, the majority of the workers who have been getting their salaries through these mobile platforms.
Mobile money platforms were initially suspended after the central bank accused them fuelling money laundering.
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RBZ Governor lives in a dream world. he wants salaries paid by the normal bankning channels. Banks do not have money every day nor do they have all day when they do receive cash from RBZ. The withdrawal limit is an insignificant amount for basic necessities. So now more time wasted queuing at banks; making several trips to supermarkets after a successful visit to the bank .The powers that be need to spend a month under the same conditions as the ordinary folk. They will then have some idea of the complexities of life at the street level.