Zimbabwe has had to experience a serious money crisis. While the situation hasn’t exactly gotten better, there is a bit of stability now in comparison to the 2019-2020 period. Whatever it might be, Zimbabweans have certainly held on to some lessons from that period. One of these lessons includes the keeping of large sums of money at home.
It is no surprise that people have continued to keep large sums of money in their houses. First of all, once you deposit the money its not guaranteed that you are able to get it when you need it. Sometimes people will have to deal with cumbersome queues to get to their money. Other times the bank will have no cash to give.
Don’t even get me started on charges. The high charges on transfer of money electronically have caused things to generally become cheaper to purchase using cash. In other cases the banks have limits on the amount that can be transacted over a certain period of time. What happens when you need cash immediately but can’t get it out because you’ve exceeded limits?
Well, no wonder people are becoming more comfortable with keeping their cash under the pillow at home. Unfortunately, thieves are aware of the fact that people are now keeping large sums of money at home. The amount of robberies in homes that have large sums of money have increased.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police took to their twitter to warn the public on this issue. They had the following to say:
The ZRP reiterates that members of the public must not keep large sums of money in homes or business premises as they risk being robbed. On 14/04/21, five unknown suspects stormed a house in Glenlorne, Hre and held hostage the occupants before robbing them of US $51 000 cash and other valuables all valued at US$56 650. Investigations are underway.
1/2 The ZRP reiterates that members of the public must not keep large sums of money in homes or business premises as they risk being robbed.
— Zimbabwe Republic Police (@PoliceZimbabwe) April 16, 2021
2/2 On 14/04/21, five unknown suspects stormed a house in Glenlorne, Hre and held hostage the occupants before robbing them of US $51 000 cash and other valuables all valued at US$56 650. Investigations are underway. #notorobbery
— Zimbabwe Republic Police (@PoliceZimbabwe) April 16, 2021
So evidently, we’re all being encouraged to not keep large amounts of cash at home. Where else should they put it then? In banks? Its probably safe to assume that when you’ve got such large amount of cash you would have seriously considered its safekeeping. After weighing out the options perhaps they figured that keeping the money at home is a better risk. Who knows, its not like I have US$50 000 that I’ve got to worry about anyways.
Ideally, any sane person would bank the money. But Zimbabweans seem to be different types of people who’ve learnt, as they say in Shona, “nevanga” when it comes to banking systems in the country.
What are your thoughts?
Let us know in the comment section below.
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