Zim’s shambolic currency: A tourist’s nightmare

  • ‘Normalising the abnormal’
  • Bank notes scarcity headache
  • No change for USD transactions
  • Transactional challenges scare away tourists

By Kundai Marunya

Zimbabwe’s ambitious roadmap to grow the tourism sector to a US$6 billion industry by 2023 could be derailed by the chaotic payment systems, transactional challenges and currency confusion.
The envisaged post-Covid-19 60 percent capacity utilisation for the industry considered a low hanging fruit, could also be in danger if monetary and fiscal authorities do not come up with solutions to the country’s transacting headaches.
Already reeling from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic – ease of transacting and of doing business should be the least of the problems in an industry that thrives on taking away people’s problems rather than creating them.
Beauty alone of the country’s tourist destinations might not be enough to ensure a tourist’s enjoyable stay, and this is a lesson Zimbabwe recently learnt in an embarrassing way.
Besides the general warmth of the people, one needs easily accessible and friendly payment methods for them to enjoy their stay, in return spending the money they would have budgeted for different activities.


A recent visit to Harare by a Zambian accountant and investor, Mafipe Chunga, exposed the country’s multi-currency system, which is dominated by mobile money.
This is opposed to other African tourism destinations including Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa where one only needs their Visa card to enjoy a relaxing stay.
Regrettably, locals face this every day, navigating their way around it without even stopping to consider the anomaly of the situation.
Many a times citizens have been forced to spend more than anticipated due to change shortages. Being told to interchangeably use mobile money, US dollars, bond notes and point of sale (POS) machines is something locals are now used to when going shopping.
Zimbabweans know where to get what they want, at bargain prices, depending on their choice of payment method.
“It’s best to use RTGS pos transactions in big supermarkets and US dollars at tuck-shops dotted around the city, the cheapest of which are in downtown Harare and Mbare,” said Harare resident Rudo Saungweme.
“We have adapted to this weird pricing and different charging systems overtime. It’s normal to be charged 45 percent more on a product when using Ecocash as compared to local bank notes.”
Ecocash is a mobile money payment system.
Chunga who described the city as “beautiful” regretted not having visited as many places as he would have wanted because of transactional challenges.
“For those who haven’t been, Harare is a beautiful place but behind this face is an unusual economy,” said Chunga on microblogging site Twitter.
“A friend said to me, ‘we’ve normalised the abnormal’.”
Chunga queried the shortage of local currency which he said “is in extremely short supply. In a week I didn’t touch a single bank note”.
Though there are many licensed bureau de charge outlets dotted across the city, most of them have become white elephants as locals prefer the services of street money-changers who offer higher rates.
Most of the outlets also offer RTGS in exchange for hard US dollar cash, something a foreigner without a local bank account could not be able to access.
Using US dollars presented another challenge for Chunga, as he could not get change.
“Heard USD was accepted again so I carried $200, trouble was, nobody had change to give,” he tweets.
“If you’re not spending the whole note, you’re encouraged to use Ecocash. Even if you sign up an Ecocash account, putting money on it is another challenge.”
Ecocash Cash-In and Cash Out options were disabled, which makes it impossible for one to deposit their money into the account.
Visa cards that are supposed to be internationally acceptable also barely work in the country. They are only accepted at a few outlets and service providers with the bulk only accepting locally generated (foreign currency account) FCA account cards when it comes to POS for foreign currency.
“In a week in Harare, only the hotel, one restaurant and our cab driver accepted international cards,” tweets Chunga.
“I later learnt that ‘the card machine is not working’ is code for we don’t accept international cards. Even in the departure lounge of the airport, the cafe claim ‘the card machine is not working’ we were encouraged to pay with Ecocash.”
Zimbabweans have accepted and now embrace the anomalies. This will make it hard for the tourism sector to meet the targeted revenues set by Government for the coming year.
“When I compare it to Nigeria, it’s night and day. In Lagos for example (that I visited this time last year), someone will tell you what the problem is and offer you three solutions,” he tweets.
“In Zim, the attitude was very different. It’s kind of ‘This is how it is’.”
Harare being the capital of Zimbabwe, and the hub for development in the country, it leaves one wondering what nightmares tourists face when visiting holiday resorts and other tourism destinations.
The point of tourism is to relax and refresh rather than crack one’s head. Chunga’s rough experience, which is currently trending on Twitter, is just but a tip of the iceberg when it comes to Zimbabwe’s myriad of problems, particularly for the tourism sector. Nhau/Indaba

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