![]() ![]() Meanwhile, Bulawayo residents are also up in arms with the council over the local authority’s recent move to effect a 716 percent rates and rental hike, with residents arguing that it violates their basic human rights. “It is a difficult scenario because while you have the law that criminalises this practice, landlords come in and claim there is a problem of the runaway inflation hence I feel there is a need for relevant stakeholders to look into this and come up with a lasting solution,” said Mr Nekati. Clearly these people are contributing to the country’s economic meltdown because what they are doing is tantamount to money laundering,” said Mr Shoko.īulawayo Real Estate managing director, Mr Michael Nekati said while it was illegal for landlords to charge their rentals in forex, they were faced with a situation where some were demanding such payment as a means of cushioning themselves from inflation. “We know that some people now think it is normal to demand rentals in forex but what monthly repairs do they do to their properties that require foreign currency, they don’t pay rentals in forex, neither do they remit taxes in forex. He said the fact that the landlords collected rentals in forex but subsequently were not remitting their taxes and rates in the same currencies was reason enough for them to be arrested and charged for corruption. “As you might know Zacc and the police are more of one entity in fighting such corrupt elements, worse still when there is a specific law that criminalises such acts,” said Mr Makamure.Īffirmative Action Group Matabeleland Chapter president Mr Reginald Shoko took a swipe at the landlords saying such people were not only bleeding the economy but were contributing to the suffering of Zimbabweans. “What is happening is that we are working with the police in monitoring this therefore we encourage members of the public to either approach our officials or their nearest police station. ![]() Zacc spokesperson Mr John Makamure says that while the monitoring of rental charges was not their primary mandate, they were, however, working with the police to ensure the implementation of Statutory Instrument 213 of 2019 which criminalises the charging in forex without seeking such a mandate from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Ultimately one would hope that this could mark the end of the selling of cash by EcoCash, a practice which has further pressured already hard-pressed Zimbabwean wallets.However, Zacc has reiterated the Government’s stance that the foreign currency demands were illegal. It will be interesting to follow the investigations by ZACC who believe that the selling of cash is “enabled and supported at a systematic level” i.e within EcoCash. The problems regarding EcoCash agents have persisted since 2016 and because cash has been hard to find, it has become a commodity that is actually sold instead of solely being used for trade. The only problem is that a thousand lines are a drop in an ocean when you have an agent network of over 26 000 agents (as of Q4 2018) and the majority is suspected of being part of the shenanigans. Last month EcoCash said it had shut down over a thousand lines belonging to agents who were selling cash. We believe that in order to effectively fight corruption, all avenues that promote corruption regardless of size must be shut with urgency and we look forward to work with all stakeholders in such scenarios to actively close these pilferage opportunities. We hope that and will also look into this seriously to bring an urgent and lasting solution. ![]() An investigation has been opened which must determine and charge the real perpetrators behind this rot. ![]()
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