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Bond notes are here and from this point onwards, it is us, the people who will decide their fate

Delta Milayo Ndou #digitaldialogue—

Pictures of what we now know to be a People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) vault and its contents went viral on social media on Sunday ahead of the release of bond notes onto the market, much to the titillation of social media commentators who described the act as “revolutionary”.Framing such foolhardy and unprofessional conduct by bank staffers as “revolutionary” presumes that the intention behind the taking of the pictures was conceivably to spite the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), give the finger to the RBZ Governor and demonstrate contempt for bond notes.

My article is not about bond notes per se, nor is it about the way they have been greeted by Zimbabweans.

My focus is on the level of unprofessionalism it takes for a sober-minded bank staffer to yank out their phone and start taking pictures of a bank vault and its contents without regard for the ethical violation such an action constitutes.

My focus is equally on the social media glorification of such unprofessional conduct on the part of individuals who are custodians of confidential banking data, processes and security measures.

Where do we draw the line insofar as violating sacrosanct professional ethics, particularly in a sector as sensitive as the banking sector, in order to “make a statement” or “show protest” over bond notes?

Surely, the argument that these bankers were doing a public service akin to “whistle-blowing” by taking and sharing pictures of bond notes cannot hold water given that the Press was awash with inserts of RBZ posters showing illustrations and security features of the notes.

Did we need bankers to go into a vault and take pictures so that we “see” the bond notes when the same information was availed via the Press?

Moreover, it makes no sense to insist — as some have done on social media — that without the bank vault pictures, people would have had no idea what the notes looked like as if images of those stacked bond note bills were taken up-close, in such a way as to permit scrutiny of the features.

There is absolutely no argument that persuades me that taking those images was necessary or of any public benefit, given they coincided with the RBZ’s “big reveal” through the insertion of detailed bond notes posters in the print Press for widespread dissemination.

There are many apologist-inclined interpretations on social media regarding what motivated the taking and subsequent sharing of those bank vault images, but like one Twitter user, I am inclined to view these actions as the manifestations of digital age bravado, wherein people want to be the first to facetiously “show and tell”.

As I have already stated, I am not convinced that the actions of the POSB bankers who took pictures of a bank vault and its contents are worthy of the social media glorification they obtained.

To my thinking, their actions illustrate the type of poor judgment that often precedes doing something stupid in order to experience the euphoria of being the first to “show and tell” in an age where everyone is ostensibly eager to “break the news” — and more importantly, to provide photographed evidence of the claims they make.

We live in an age where it apparently does not suffice to say “I saw an accident today” but rather, one feels compelled to take photographs of the accident so as to make evidence-backed claims like, “These are pictures of the accident I saw today”.

Perhaps these bankers felt it would not suffice to simply tell whoever they were dying to inform, “I have seen the bond notes” so they decided taking pictures was such a fine idea because then they could produce evidence to say, “I am looking at bond notes right now, in fact, let me take a picture and send you.”

This is pure speculation of course; I don’t know whether their motive was any more than those social media crusaders who claim that taking and sharing pictures of a bank vault as well as its contents was part of anti-bond notes revolutionary agenda.

What I can say with certainty is that the conduct of these bankers, who knew better, was extremely facetious insofar as it showed a complete disregard for the seriousness of the duty assigned to them, the responsibility entrusted to them and the faith invested in them by their employer — POSB.

Whilst some of social media supporters have decried their axing, I for one completely and unapologetically support the decision to fire such people, who have shown such astounding indiscretion, poor judgment and untenable breach of trust.

I would not leave my money in a bank that has such unprofessional employees, who will cross any line and violate any ethical principle guiding their trade just to “make a revolutionary statement” — if indeed that was their intention.

Only heaven knows what else they have done in the past and it is unhelpful to try and minimise their professional culpability or downplay the severity of their offence on the basis that “we all don’t like or want bond notes anyway”.

I am not unsympathetic to the anti-bond notes campaigners because I believe their fears — which are steeped in lived past experience — are legitimate and the apex bank has done very little to convincingly address or allay them.

Yet I cannot find it in me to salute these picture-taking bankers because their conduct crossed a line that does not just harm the standing of the POSB, but potentially casts aspersions upon the banking profession as a whole.

Is this really the calibre of bankers we have, the calibre of bankers we defend and glorify on social media?

Where do we draw the line and at what point do we take issues of national import (such as the bond notes) seriously?

Taking an issue (like bond notes) seriously does not require you to agree with it, but it certainly requires you to afford it the gravity it deserves — facetiousness on social media and elsewhere cannot be the answer.

Who wins if bond notes fail?

Public trust and confidence in the RBZ and its policies have been severely eroded over the years and there are many Zimbabweans who are resistant to the bond notes remedy proffered by the apex bank.

However, the bond notes are here and from this point onwards, it is us, the people who will decide their fate.

If one ponders the question of who wins if bond notes fail, the answer is clearly all of us, especially those of us who can least afford a return to the nightmare of 2008.

An editorial in one of the private media papers urging Government to pass custodial sentences to deter and punish money changers seemed very discordant and inconsistent with the fierce oppositional stance toward the introduction of bond notes that the publication had hitherto taken.

However, that editorial, in my view, comes from an appreciation that regardless of where we stand with regards bond notes, our collective fate now lies in their successful and widespread adoption at the prescribed pegged rate of 1:1.

It matters, of course, how we got into this mess and it matters that there are people that have not been brought to book, who are utterly to blame. But this is tragically where we are, so where do we go from here?

A fellow journalist remarked on Twitter that it appears so many people really want the bond notes to fail, as some persist in peddling lies and misinformation, distorting facts and fanning panic through social media hoaxes.

Social media-fuelled speculation has the potential to do serious harm and it is such individuals who need to pause for a moment and reflect on who wins if these bond notes fail as per their gloom-and-doom predictions.

As of yesterday, Roadport money-changers were reportedly not rating the bond as they were exchanging the bond note on a 1:1 rate with the US dollar.

This is commendable because the fate of the bond note now rests in the hands of the informal sector who will be the judge, jury and hopefully not executioner of this surrogate currency.

Do the naysayers and anti-bond notes campaigners want to be proved right so badly that a few misguided amongst them are willing to sabotage the bond notes via social media speculation and misinformation?

To what end and for whose gain? Who wins if bond notes fail?

Delta is Head of Digital at Zimpapers. You can follow her on Twitter: @deltandou