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. Khuphuka Nasingeni
HAVE you ever been in a situation where you are forced to join three different queues concurrently and you tell whoever is ahead of you that you will be with them shortly before moving to the next queue and the next and the nextA�.A�.A�. I used to do this during the crippling food shortages of 2007/2008 when many people would just join a queue before even asking what it was for. But then the trick was never leave one queue for the next before you get a card guaranteeing your place in the queue! A�
All these thoughts came streaming back into my mind as banking halls started bursting at the seams, a development that many banks have not had for quite a while, save for brief periods during pay days.A� The ground must be shifting since banks have not had such huge numbers over this aquifer, otherwise referred to as the city centre!
My legs aching, patience wearing thin and hunger pangs amplifying my anger, I stood in line to pay fees at three different banks.A� Whoever came up with this a�?fantastic ideaa�? that all fees must be paid at banks instead of using the bursara��s office deserves some serious caning!A� Can you imagine grown men and women wasting precious company time in queues paying school fees instead of contributing towards the fulfilment of the Zim Asset cluster targets!A� It was as if the queues at Trade Fair the previous Saturday were re-routed to the banks on Tuesday. And who wouldna��t join the queue following the announcement that boarding schools in particular and schools in general could send away pupils for non-payment of fees.
And who would have thought that banks would be at their liveliest, busiest during the worst cash shortage since the advent of multi-currency?A� For a day or two, bank managers must have felt they needed to activate short contracts for some guys they retrenched a few months ago on three months goodbyes. I pity school bursars and bookkeepers who were rarely broke courtesy of the ever flowing cash in school coffers. The soft overnight loan days were always numbered and they have come to a screeching halt.
The announcement that boarding schools can now flex their muscles on those that decide to send children to boarding schools and then fail to pay jolted quite a sizeable community out of their comfort zones.A� There is a big story there that has always been whispered.A� Some schools, for your own information, are owed no less than half-a-million in boarding and tuition fees.A� The stark reality of our economic situation is that less and less people can afford boarding fees now.A� However, more and more people cannot afford not to send their kids there a�� what would the neighbours say, they reckon?
Headmastersa�� job descriptions have since been stretched into debt collection and to avoid chasing children away from school, some heads stood by the door of the bus, ushering in those whose accounts were in order and barring those owing the school.A� Even yesteryear conductors would have been envious of the meticulousness of the school authorities by the school bus at City Hall and Hamara! The rates charged at some schools are quite jaw dropping and you tend to wonder what sort of meals are served there, not to mention the expected quality of school results.A� Some schools that priced themselves out of the market are slowly coming down to Mother Earth, not without a thud. Take for instance, this elite (my foot!) school that has now been forced into running a sale!
Yes a winter knock down sale!
What is it called in education circles, call it a promotion, a discount or whatever suits your fancy but something akin to Baccossi is what it is.
This back to school special, a school advertising for places read something like, school fees WAS $750, NOW $650!
Is this a sign of better times ahead for struggling parents, yours truly is wondering.
Then there are day schools that are three times the cost of boarding school fees!
I believe children will still be trickling into classrooms till the end of the month, what with the restricted withdrawals.
However, next term bond notes should be in circulation and these shortages may be a thing of the past.
Remember how some people derided the bond coins at the their launch, preferring rand coins but now avoid the rand like a plague?
Online Reporter