Published by the government of Zimbabwe
9 September 2008
editorial
Harare — Illegal foreign currency trading on Harare's streets and Internet cafes has become so rampant and open that something needs to be done to bring normalcy.
It has indeed become apparent that illegal foreign currency dealers are a bigger nuisance on our streets than fruit vendors.
And they trade with impunity thousands of United States dollars, British pounds, South African rands, Botswana pulas and the Zimbabwe dollar.
Harare's Fifth Street, stretching from the Roadport International Bus Terminus to Samora Machel Avenue, is always teeming with vehicles and hordes of whistling and gesturing illegal moneychangers.
Other hubs of the city's illicit foreign currency trading are Third Street behind Eastgate Mall, Ximex Mall and at Construction House.
Police patrol teams, some on foot and others on bicycles, simply go past hordes of unperturbed young men and women holding wads of cash.
While the ongoing blitz on Internet cafes by teams from the police, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Anti-Corruption Commission to clamp down on illegal foreign currency trading using e-banking is welcome, a lot more needs to be done to clean up the streets of the illegal dealers.
RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono has in the past lamented the fact that only about 12 percent of the cash in circulation was passing through the banking system while the remainder was in the hands of illegal foreign currency traders.
This situation where the parallel market is allowed to be the driving force in the economy while the formal sector withers should not be left to continue.
The growth of the illegal foreign currency trading has been rapid and counter-productive, because the money generated is used mainly for consumption rather than development.
Illegal foreign currency dealers do not pay taxes; they are not concerned about the building of schools, roads, hospitals or the setting-up of infrastructure that the majority of the people can benefit from.
Instead, the drivers of this malpractice create a dangerous situation, because they are involved in it simply for quick self-enrichment.
Even policy planning also becomes difficult if not impossible because activities in the illegal foreign currency trading are not recorded while people speculate and push inflation up.
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora routinely use money transfer agencies to send hard currency home to their families, much of which ends up in the hands of illegal street traders.
Something should certainly be done to stop this lawlessness on our streets.
There are incidents where illegal foreign currency dealers have been caught and the laws invoked but often ending with the culprits paying fines and in no time they are back on the streets bragging about paying a paltry fine.
The country has the laws and resources to put the illegal foreign currency trading to an end.
Violation of exchange control regulations carries the penalty of a fine or imprisonment.
We believe the time has come for the authorities to clamp down on the illegal foreign currency traders and invoke stiffer penalties, which will serve as a deterrent to others.
And we want the blitz that has started in Internet cafes to now spread not only to the streets of Harare, but also to other cities and towns where illegal foreign currency trading is spreading unabated.
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