When Finance Minister Tendai Biti suspended use of the Zimbabwe dollar in February 2009, the country breathed a huge sigh of relief. Within a fortnight hyper inflation, which was then in the billions of percentage points, dropped to almost zero. A couple of weeks later the black market, which had turned bums and thugs into multi billionaires, also disappeared. Currency dealers who had brazenly parked their fancy cars outside empty banks and conducted massive deals from the trunks of their vehicles, also disappeared. Suddenly Zimbabwe had joined the real world and Minister Biti announced that we were now a multi-currency economy and trade would be allowed in US Dollars, British Pounds, Botswana Pula and South African Rand.

Dealing in real money for the past 15 months has given us all a sense of security again and although the cost of living is still far above people's wages, we've felt a permanence having Dollars, Pounds, Pula and Rand in our pockets.

Permanence disappeared in an instant this week when by chance someone mentioned the withdrawal from circulation of the 200 South African Rand note at the end of May. I thought it was a joke at first, a rumour or scare mongering and the obvious way to find out for sure was to phone the bank.

Having been a customer of this international bank for 35 years and of my local branch for 20 years I was sure they'd be able to help. This wasn't those silly Zim dollars with masses of zeroes we were talking about after all, this was "real money."
"No," the man at the bank said, "the 200 Rand notes are no longer acceptable."
When I said I hadn't heard that the notes were being withdrawn he said that the Reserve Bank had made the announcement in February.
"Our Reserve Bank?" I asked.
"No, the South African Reserve Bank?" he replied.
"But we're not in South Africa! And you haven't let your customers know!" I exclaimed but this conversation was going nowhere fast.


Then the stuttering began and the excuses followed in rapid succession:
"We, we, we, flighted a notice in the press for 2 weeks," bank man said.
When I asked which newspaper he said: "The Herald of course."
"Why of course?" I asked. "Who reads the Herald? What about in the Independent Press?"
He said no, they'd only advertised in the Herald.

There was no answer to my query as to why the bank couldn't have written, phoned or emailed their customers to warn them that their "real money" was about to become worthless. Needless to say the bank refused to take my 200 Rand notes and their only advice was that I should travel to South Africa and try and change them there myself.

Is that what I'll I have to do when a British pound denomination note is withdrawn, or a US dollar one, travel to those countries? And what about all the people deep in Zimbabwe's remote rural areas with a few 200 Rand notes tucked away in a safe place for an emergency? Its obscene to think that their precious money, sent home by loved ones slaving away in South Africa, has become good for starting the fire.

This, along with daily power cuts lasting from 5 am till 10 pm and no water for 4 days - even for the schools and hospitals, has made for a very trying week in Zimbabwe. Relief didn't even come with the warm up football match between Zim and Brazil because there was no electricity to watch it.

This might all sound very funny to the outsider, but its real life in Zimbabwe!