Shock as ATM issues Zim dollars

machine dispensed some Zimbabwe dollar notes to clients.
A bank official who could not be named for professional reasons, yesterday said there was chaos at the bank after a woman who wanted to withdraw US$110, received wards of Zimbabwe dollar notes.

This reportedly caused panic among customers in the queue who thought the Zimbabwe dollar was back in circulation.
“The woman was then referred to another ATM and withdrew her US$110,” said the official.

In a written response yesterday, Interfin Bank officials confirmed that some clients had accidentally withdrawn some Zimbabwe dollar notes from one of their ATMs at Century Towers along Samora Machel Avenue.
“Our clients have erroneously used our ATM at Century Towers Branch, Samora Machel Avenue, which is reserved for testing and clearly marked “Out of Service”.

The machine is always offline and customers used it yesterday as it was online.
“Consequently, they have withdrawn Zimbabwe dollar notes from the ATM which was being used for ZIMSWITCH certification tests,” said the bank in a statement.

The bank urged all its clients who have used the ATM to report to the branch manager, Mr Daniel Mandizvidza at the Century Towers branch on phone number 777170 or mobile 0772283313.
“Any inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted,” said the bank.

Some bank officials claimed that the ATM in question had not been working for a long time and the technicians have been testing it using some Zimbabwe dollar notes. The machine was, however, left online. This resulted in some clients using the machine, said one of the bank officials.
The people then started spreading word that the Zimbabwe dollar was back in circulation.

The country started using multiple currencies officially in January 2009.
Nearly all Zimbabweans in urban areas had huge amounts of the local currency in their bank accounts or at home during the era of “burning” foreign currency. Then the Zimbabwe dollar had plummeted terribly on the black market.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti once suggested to set aside US$6 million to compensate bank account holders following the introduction of the multiple currencies.
However, the idea was shelved following reports that bank balances of some people, mainly bank officials ballooned after huge deposits were made.