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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Mutare Bureau
There was good cheer in Mutare last week as a significant number of depositors managed to withdraw cash from their accounts at most banks ahead of the Christmas holidays. Although long queues have become normal due to cash shortages, queues were longer than usual at most banks in the morning as civil servants who received their salaries made withdrawals.

Some banks were dispensing United States dollars, much to the delight of depositors who had become used to getting coins for every withdrawal they made. A security guard at one commercial bank who did not want to be named for professional reasons said queues had been longer than usual, but most customers left the bank happy.

“The bank normally serves 100 customers per day, but today more than 400 people managed to withdraw cash from the bank. The customers were happy about this,” he said.

Depositors who spoke to The Herald expressed joy that they had been able to get cash ahead of the Christmas holiday, with some saying they could now travel to their rural homes to enjoy the holiday with their families. Mr Ngoni Mazanhi said he was happy that he had managed to withdraw money from his account to enable him to travel to Nyanga for Christmas.

“When I got here this morning, I did not expect to get any money because l was at number 250 in the queue. To my surprise, the queue was moving very fast and we all got our money,” he said.

Ms Petronella Mhlanga said she got into the queue at around 8am on Thursday, but had managed to make a withdrawal by lunch time. Retailers enjoyed brisk business as shoppers queued to make last-minute purchases before travelling to different parts of the country, mostly rural areas, for the holiday.

There were reports that due to an increase in the transactions made on point of sale machines, the network became clogged and some people could not use their bank cards to swipe for goods.