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WITH authorities turning the screws as the countrya��s cash crisis continues, the citya��s illegal forex changers, popularly known as Osiphatheleni . . . , have turned to the airtime vendors who they now use as their front on the streets.
While some of their colleagues have been on the dock in the past month only a stonea��s throw away from where they conduct their illegal trade near Tredgold Courthouse, it is still business as usual for some forex changers as they have come up with a new way of evading law enforcement agents.
With the authorities on the hunt, some currency changers have gone underground, contacting clients on social media as they try to evade the long arm of the law. The lure of the streets however, is proving irresistible for some who continue to go to their base of operations at the foot of Tredgold Buildings.
When B-Metro went to investigate this week, women who looked like they were seasoned Osiphatheleni sat and continued to count their cash in full view of the passing public at the Tredgold centre parking. Despite putting their wads of US dollars and bond notes on full display, the forex changers did not seem in fear of the police or any hurry to invite any potential clients for business.
Instead a few airtime vendors, wearing bibs from the countrya��s major telecommunications networks, courted passers-by. The vendors, mostly young men in their youth tried to attract customers by saying a�?how far khiwaa�? and if they hooked one, they would rush off to the seated ladies for the required currency.
One of the taxi drivers who ranks near the illegal forex exchange hotspot, said that this was now the norm there, with a number of people claiming to be airtime vendors patrolling the centre parking from dawn to dusk.
Life has been tough for the forex exchangers after the Government gazetted regulations that criminalise cash vending without permission from the exchange control authority and empowered police to arrest money peddlers and seize whatever currency they had on hand.
In an Extraordinary Government Gazette published on last month, President Mugabe issued Statutory Instrument 122A of 2017 a�� Exchange Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (No 5) a�� to deal with the widespread cash vending on the streets.
This comes after the realisation that cash vending had fuelled the price madness that had engulfed the country before sanity was restored by the swift action taken by the authorities.
Online Reporter