Some government officials have alleged that the closure of the country’s stock exchange and mobile money platforms including Econent’s Ecocash and NetOne’s One Money was ordered by security chiefs in the country.
The anonymous officials claim that even the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was not consulted on the move only to learn about it during the implementation phase.
They further allege that the security officials believed that the central bank governor, Dr John Mangudya and the minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthui Ncube had failed to address the deteriorating state of affairs hence the need to interfere.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana alleged that input from all agencies and departments was considered in coming up with the directives.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, George Guvamatanga echoed Mangwana’s remarks saying:
It is not correct that the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance were not involved in the decision or were not aware of the developments leading to the suspension.
This was a further follow up of work that the Financial Intelligence Unit was already working on which led to a court ruling against one of the mobile operators.
The development comes when inflation in the country has continued to rise unabated owing partly to the continuous nosediving of the local currency and the collapse of the local industry.
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