Zimbabwe, infamous for currency issues over the last decade or three, has resorted to using four foreign currencies in the place of the failed Zimbabwe dollar. Lacking knowledge and a common, easy-to-understand foreign exchange rate has led many locals to relying on direct trades to consumate transactions.
According to the Zimbabwean, “The multi-currency system has caused confusion in the Matabeleland area. Samukeliso Ndiweni (60) from Lupane, which is about 120 kilometres north of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city said not many people in the rural areas had access to foreign currency because they were unemployed.
“When I want to sell a goat I know that it exchanges for five buckets of maize but it becomes difficult when someone comes with US dollars, South African rands or even Botswana Pulas because I don’t know what to charge them as I do not understand the currencies. As a result I resort to barter trade,” said Ndiweni.
“The last time I had US$10 and when I bought mealie-meal I received 40 Rands change but two weeks later I bought the same commodity using the same currency and I received 30 rands change and the reason was that the rate had changed,”said Ndiweni.“All this is confusing because it becomes difficult to know whether one has been cheated or not.”
Thabani Moyo also said he relied on barter trade.
“Nowadays I exchange my produce for what I need and the local schools have made it easier for villagers as they allow us to pay school fees with whatever we have and the school will later sell whatever we have bartered to those with the money,”Moyo said.
Last term he parted with three goats as payment for school fees for his three sons in primary school.
In the area a two litre bottle of fresh milk exchanges for a pumpkin while a bucket of maize exchanges for five litres of cooking oil. A live goat exchanges for a new blanket and two chickens can be exchanged for a trouser.
Tricksters and conman have however taken advantage of the confusion and ignorance among the villagers by using counterfeit currencies to procure goods.
“Two months ago I sold four cows to two people who claimed they were running butcheries in Bulawayo and I later realised that the 8 000 South African Rands they gave to me were fake and I have resolved that I will never use any of the new currencies but I will trade whatever I have with any goods and services that I need,”said Timothy Ncube, a local villager who keeps cattle and goats in his small plot.”
Great article. I live in Zimbabwe and i have always wondered why we don’t have an organised barter exchange seeing that we always face recurrent currency challenges. Well, an official barter exchange is coming real soon so it wont be barter confusion any more.
I have pitched the idea of a barter exchange to a lot of companies in Harare and most are open to the idea. So for some of use this is a real opportunity