Zimbabweans stood in long, chaotic lines outside banks on Monday, desperate to draw money before stores close for the holidays in a country crippled by economic and political crises.
With cash itself in short supply, the central bank has supplied new high denomination notes, the largest worth Z$750 000.
Banks still could not cope with the demand for cash after six weeks of acute shortages. Banks stayed open throughout Sunday for the first time to deal with withdrawal requests.
Housewife and mother Mildred Chikutu started lining up before dawn on Monday to withdraw the maximum allowed in a day, Z$50-million Zimbabwe ($25) at the dominant black market exchange rate), enough to buy a hamburger.
”You queue for money, and that’s only the beginning of the queuing,” she said, heading into a nearby supermarket where many shelves were bare of basic goods. A line had formed at the bakery counter.
Cars snaked around a petrol station a block away awaiting a fuel delivery.
”We call this the festive season but where is there any joy?” Chikutu said.
Dampened by overnight rains at the main Mbare long-distance bus terminal in the capital, thousands waited for buses for traditional holiday trips to home villages but the lines were smaller than in the past as fares soared and acute shortages of food and fuel continued.
Townspeople take chicken, sugar and other scarce commodities to rural relatives for the holidays.
Power and water outages occur daily across the country blamed on shortages of spare parts, equipment and hard currency for electricity imports.
Several suburbs in Harare, the capital, entered a 17th day without power on Monday and swathes of the downtown business district, including the state power utility’s headquarters, suffered intermittent outages.
The internationally known Harare Club cancelled its Christmas lunch during a six-day power failure and even President Robert Mugabe’s official residence went without power from the city power grid for more than a week. Mugabe also has a private mansion on the outskirts of the capital.
Hospitals have not been spared and officials at the main blood bank said some stocks were thrown away after a generator powering its refrigeration broke down.
Official inflation was given in September at about 8 000%, the highest in the world, but independent estimates put it nearer 100 000%.
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the region and one of the world’s top exporters of tobacco until the government seized white farmlands that were given mainly to cronies of Mugabe and his entourage, creating food shortages and a crisis that led a third of the population to flee the country.
Mugabe (83) has ruled since the former British colony’s independence in 1980. Despite some opposition from within his party, he will again stand for president in elections next year. Elections have in the past been rife with intimidation and vote-rigging. ‒ Sapa-AP