Of Transfers and Bond Notes

ZW MOBILE OR TELEPHONE BANKING: I had to write another post to explain and assist on how some of us are surviving in these very trying times. My previous post on bond notes tips got over 5000 shares on Facebook , Twitter and Google. Thanks for that. I got inspired to expand on this by Elias Saidi a friend on Facebook.I give part if not all credit to him on this post. Here I am going to explain how to transfer money without paying heavy bank charges or EcoCash charges.We have an option to transfer money cheaper than what  the mobile platforms are charging. RTGS VERSUS ZIPIT Even after the recent downward review of the bank charges, the truth is that RTGSs (and people looking to access their cash have to make a lot of them) at $3 a transaction, are still quite expensive to do. And of course EcoCash still charges the sender up to $7 for a $100 transfer to an unregistered number and a recipient $3 to cash it out – $10 transaction fees in total . You can visit Econet website for more information on their website. The sad thing is that there’s a way to avoid these heavy bank charges but the awareness of how is just very low. There’s mobile money service that almost all banks offer. It’s almost like EcoCash but it uses ZimSwitch’s ZIPIT technology. WHAT ZIPIT IS AND WHY THE BIG DEAL?  Almost every bank has a mobile money service (you can call it mobile banking) that you can access via your mobile phone’s USSD just like EcoCash and Telecash. It’s a big deal for 2 reasons: 1) The first is that you can transfer as much as $10,000 to almost any bank account in Zimbabwe for just a flat fee of about $1 2) The second reason is that all transfers go through instantly so no more waiting days for RTGSs to go through. You can use the service for other things as well like buying airtime and paying bills. WHICH ARE THE BANKS THAT HAS ZIPIT? Each bank has a different name pr brand for it but it’s just the same ZIPIT service at the core. For example, CABS calls it Textacash, FBC calls it Mobile Moola, at CBZ it’s CBZ Touch, at MetBank MetClick and so on. But essentially when you approach your bank, you want to ask them about their new phone USSD based banking. (don’t mention ZIPIT as some tellers will give you a blank stare – I had that experience at NMB.) HOW TO GET YOUR DEBIT CARDS To start using the service you simply enable mobile banking on your existing bank account by signing up at your bank. Kind of the same same way enabled internet banking on your account. If, however, you happen to not have a bank account at all, then open one. The above accounts just need your national identity card to be issued with a card. The cards are issued on application and are all activated immediately. Go get your card, go cashless and Happy Banking!!!!

Bond Notes and Cashless Tips

GO MOBILE

 You need a debit card to survive in these times. There are cards that you can get for free. Ecocash, Telecash and Textacash are free and you only need a photocopy of your national identity card. These cards are issued immediately . These cards can be linked to your mobile phone.  These cards are also on Zimswitch so you can transact  any where and any time.

LETS GO MOBILE

BOND NOTES AND YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.

The money in your account remains in USA dollars. The money is in the banking system it  retain its value. It is the bond notes in the informal sector which are open to abuse by unscrupulous black market operators. So my advise if you have bond notes bank them immediately to get the USA dollar value.

BOND NOTES ARE HERE

CASH OR CARD 

BANKING PRODUCTS
All banks  have products that give you a card for that allow to swipe instead of always paying cash. Swiping can save you money in form of transaction costs and transport cost ,especially if you live far from your bank.

These debit cards allows us to pay for almost anything with it.All banks are on Zimswitch and this allows us the banking public to get money at any bank.l feel a limit of $20 on Zimswitch's ATM person should be imposed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

BILLER CODES & MERCHANT  BANK ACCOUNTS
We should have biller  and merchant codes  for every service provider for their biller/merchant code. It is  not a bad idea or rude to ask for your creditors bank account number.This will make it easier for us to transfer monies amongst us. We can use ZIPIT and RTGS. 

LET US GO INTERNATIONAL

FOREIGN DEBIT CARDS 
Banks are offering  VISA ,Mastercard and other international debit cards. These will allow you to transact outside our borders. You can bank those bond notes and get USA dollar value outside. Cross border traders can use these cards for purchases

WHY GO CASHLESS?

 This country is under foreign sanctions and we need to safeguard our banking sector from foreign manipulation. Keeping our money in our banking systems allows  authorities to control and monitor all financial services. Money laundering and illegal transactions like smuggling are driven by cash. Going cashless is a state security priority  and it is every citizen's responsibility

November Events And Traditions

THE TRADITION

If you're a Zimbabwean  there's a very real possibility that you've  been told that November is a sacred month.  Traditional you don’t marry, lay stones on graves or do anything spiritual.  This is a sacred months for Zimbabweans. I would  like people to see the contradictions in our culture with the USA where they are celebrating Thanksgiving day.

CONTRADICTION IN NOVEMBER

This contradiction runs right to the arrival of the infamous Pioneer Column, this day is celebrated by Rhodesian settlers. In this month the racist Rhodesian settlers murdered thousands of children , unarmed refugees and bombed a hospital at Chimoio. This was a war crime that no one fake media remembers or write about. More people died on this day than those who died during Gukurahundi.

The tradition dictates whatever we do the spirits will not recognize it and bad luck would fall on you. Now there lies the gist of this blog post. I wish to unpack the effect on tradition on the USA election, Chimanimani by-election, The Tajamuka/Nera Shutdown and of course the bond notes story.

Now if  you're black Zimbabwean like most people you've probably been told  about this November tradition maybe even had one or two misfortune fall on you.Mwedzi waMusikavanhu it is as holy as the Sabbath day to the Jews. You do not go against God.

HILARY CLINTON DEMISE

I say all that to say this.My objective is explain what befell our nemesis, the chief sponsor of the ZIDERA sanctions and the most hated woman in the USA, Hilary Clinton. She lost the elections to a media underdog Donald Trump. I celebrated Donald Trump victory just to spite Hilary! !If celebrated with me with me Great job!

Hopefully  Donald Trump's  victory may mean an end of the #Zidera sanctions. Watch this space in in February 2016!!

NERA'S CONTRADICTION

Okay, back to here in Zimbabwe. This month is month the hated NERA called for two national Shutdowns . The purpose was to protest the  introduction of the bond notes! ! The two demonstrations were all monumental failures. The Reserve bank governor had to remind NERA that the Bond notes has already been in use since the first of October.
   
You see, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe  was already  giving importers and people who are receiving remittances from abroad were already receiving incentives. The people of Zimbabwe knew that the NERA demonstrations had been overtaken by events. This was sacred month of November!!

THE GREEN MACHINE AND BOND NOTES

However, I've decided  to highlights the positives of November. You might have seen that one of the bond notes colour is green. Is it  a coincidence that the Green Machine, CAPS United, won the Zimbabwe Premier League in this month of November. Was the Green Machine used to print the notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe? I feel that the bond notes will be a success just like the famous CAPS United.

CHIMANIMANI VICTORY

There was a by election in Chimanimani and, of course, ZANU Pf won the election. The usually noise of intimidation, violence and rigging  in the gutter media was routinely and religiously repeated. The fake media had the guts to copy word for word what was written in previous election years. We Zimbabweans do not take the gutter and fake media seriously. The gutter media is beamed at the diaspora and our detractors.

I have always said to the people in the diaspora there's no better way to learn about the fairness and accuracy of our elections  than by watching the real deal .The Zimbabwean people are willing to let you watch and pull you aside to break down everything they're doing during elections. Come home and see for yourself how we run our elections. Our next general elections are in 2018 , come home!

ROBIN HOOD

Finally Robin Hood was let of by enquiry set up by ZANU Pf. This was after Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commsision had over zealously laid charges and prematurely ordered the arrest of our guy in Tsholotsho. I am still at loss on how a minister can assess a cent of public funds without cabinet authority.  This is really  my November question to the ZAAC commissioner!

I could go on and on about November and God but for now let us remember the traditions of our land.Icho!!!

Me and Social media

I did write on this blog that l was going to put my twitter account on steroids. It was a kneejack responds to my faltering social media presence. l had a blog which people rarely visited,  a twitter account with just over 200 viewers since 2008, a Facebook  book page that had 135 likes and l just said l was going to double these

statistics in 6 month.That was my target!!!

MY SOCIAL MEDIA AIM
My main objective of getting on social media was to increase my market reach and generate leads for my ever emerging company registration and business advisory service venture.

MY FACEBOOK 

I am told there are 1.5 billion people  on Facebook but l still have  140 very loyal clients and fans who have liked my page. It is 1.5 billion potential customers and l saw a gold mine and hence l opened my Facebook page.  I am still fishing for leads.

I actually lost one or two fans on my Facebook  over the last six months.

MY BLOG

I started my blog with the same objective for my Facebook page.  I needed  business leads and of course the elusive Adsense revenue.  On the marketing and leads l have yet to see the impact but on the Adsense revenue l have increased my very modest earnings.
My blog traffic has increased to just over 500 per month. This is a great improvement since l had just over a thousand visitors for the whole of 2015.

MY TWITTER 
My twitter  account has been a great success as l have increased my followers from just over 200 in January to over 1600 over a period of nine months. 

I attribute the increase to automation and my lively participation  and engagement  on Twitter.

MY LESSONS FROM ALL THIS

I  have had my few lessons about social media, on the business  side, social media is not a substitute for marketing . I still need to get out there and hustle if l need new business! Social media compliments my business activities . My advice to all business is get on the social media train and grow.

ThisFlag And ThisPastor

The Pastor And His story and History

This is the story of Evan Mawarire . You remember  him. The pastor-for-hire and the #ThisFlag guy from Zimbabwe. He is that guy who when he came against an ordinary challenge in his life, failure to pay his children's schools fees made it a political issue.

Now if it was me or you would have had to do something to figure out how to get past an ordinary challenge  so you could get to the bottom of it.

The Pastor and his Creativity

It was not to be for Evan. The old ways of raising money wasn’t working anymore. So he thought of  something different did it. He got a video of himself, narrated his views and feelings!! And the video went viral. We will not discuss the concept of viral marketing except l will tell you ...it an expensive exercise for a broke pastor.

Now  that the pastor had a viral video, the next thing he did was to go out and meet his fans. This is a very expensive exercise for a broke pastor but through the grace of God , he was able to meet his fans (l am not calling them supporters).

This Pastor And Violence

It is on record that the pastor did not incite public violence, he was a victim of an unjust government.  I mean the executive an independent arm of government,  arrested him and the judicial another independent arm of  the government of Zimbabwe set him free. His fans who always blame lack of good governance had to eat their own words on this occasion. They could not applaud or curse the government.

This Pastor And This Dollar Thing

Evan achievement of making a school fees  plea into  a  social movement, as the stupids ones amongst us want to believe … felt GREAT. And he realized he could do wonders as broke as he was.As soon as he was released he fled the country penniless and very broke.

The next picture of him is at a Lakers match deep in the USA. How can broke pastor fly across the oceans and turn up at a $2000 dollar a seat basketball  match. The money for the ticket could have paid school fees for a term for 50 kids in Magunje.

This Pastor And His Fall

The pastor did one or two television shows and then he turned up with six or nine others at the UN headquarters to meet the President of Zimbabwe,  Robert Mugabe. It was  where he met his Waterloo in the form of the December 12 movement. These are blacks who know the colours and cost of the Zimbabwean flag. They had not flown half the world to protest the presence of Robert Mugabe,like Evan,in contrast they walked from their homes to support him. Evan was told to go home and he was told that he was there for the USA green card.He was humiliated and chased from New York.It was an embarrassing moment for the pastor-for-hire and his sponsors. It was when every  Zimbabwean knew why the pastor-for-hire had made the school fees video.

This Pastor And His Dirty Record

 Every Zimbabwean knew the purpose and intent of the flight into exile. After his infamous escapades in New York and other cities in the USA, the pastor thought he had done enough to clean his dirty British records,enough to please the English authorities to clear him for a visa. NO the British do not forget easily he was denied entry.

This Pastor Today

 Everyone of us Zimbabweans now know who was behind the video and the Pastor-for-hire.

Our questions to the pastor-for-hire is did he pay his children's school fees after all that drama? Where is the pastor today. Does he still wrap our flag on his shoulder and call it cheaply #ThisFlag.  We wait for the answers! !

Bond Notes Are Coming

Times Have Changed

This is not 2008.In 2008 we used to store our savings in cash currency and we relied on cash transactions. Everyone of us Zimbabweans know that there has been a fundamental changes both on the currency and the way we carry out our day to day transactions.

The introduction of the bond notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is an acknowledgement of the changes in financial habits of the people and the advancement of technology in the banking sector. It is what the negative ones amongst us have failed to understand.  It is 2016 and not 2008 let us all remind them.


Bond Notes Are Not Zimbabwean Dollars

Bond notes as good as the USA dollar

Bond notes are here and l can safely say that they are not the Zimbabwean dollar in disguise. The Reserve bank has said that too but there is a lot of unwarranted political noise from different quarters. People are being paid to demonstrate against the bond notes.

The Financial Sector Has Evolved

In 2008 we used to rely on checks,money orders, wire transfer and debit cards. These form of financial services resulted not only in high transaction charges but a distortion in rates between different form of the services.

Our banking system has evolved since 2008. As l write local mobile phone companies has created products and applications which allow us to receive and make payments using our phones. These fundamental changes now allows us to transcact on the street and you do no even need to have a bank account in some cases . The transactional costs have fallen or are no longer there.

Mobile Banking is Here

The arrival of mobile banking make it impossible for the traditional bank  to manipulate the rates on transactions. Manipulation of the exchange via the traditional banks, was the tool used to attack the Zimbabwean dollar. The exchange rate does not apply as the bond note ranks the same on value as the USA dollar.

Manipulation Is No Longer Possible

International credit cards are now part of our banking tools

The situation of the currency attack in 2008 was the result of foreign manipulation of the exchange rate by the hostile, colonial and traditional banking sector reacting to the land reforms. The traditional banking sector was open to foreign manipulation by external forces and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has tighten up its monitoring and control of banks.

Thanks to the Sanctions

Our economy is now more integrated with the global finance markets. We should thank the sanctions against Zimbabwe which has allowed our banking sector to reform by looking inwards. This has allowed our banking sector to bust the sanctions for them to survive. Our banking system has evolved into an effective sanctions busting tool.

The  bond notes, just like the bond coins will serve the purposes  perfectly. The people of Zimbabwe will accept the notes just as we supported the bond coins. The bond notes are part of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe strategy to develop the banking sector.

The Benefits from the Bond Notes

There is an immediate benefit to exporters and those receiving remittances from abroad. Exporters will get 6% on top of their export payments and beneficiary of amount remitted will get a 3% on top of the amount sent to them.These incentives commences on October 1.

 These incentives are there to encourage cash to flow into the formal banking channels. The government hope this will improve the cash supply and availability in the economy.

August of Heroes and Pretenders

August is the month that we Zimbabweans celebrate the life of our heroes and heroines. It is the months in which every black Zimbabwean family acknowledges the efforts and sacrifice made by our people in the Chimurenga.

It is a month we recognize and remember that our enemy was a white person and was a Rhodesian. It is a month that we reflect and appreciate on the bravado of our kinsmen who sacrificed their lives to unchain us from slavery and bondage.

Well, it is never as easy as above,  for among us there are people who are still slaves mentally. People who still need to be decolonised. So here is what happened in the Heroes month of August.

Flags Does not make you a Hero 

August started with a pastor-for-hire who wrapped the Zimbabwean flag on his neck in a suicide attempt. The guy had failed to pay his children fees. He made a video with a plea for assistance. The video and the hashtag went viral. The guy had his day in court, was freed and promptly fled into self-exile.Some of us called him a hero but I thought that he was just another coward with my country flag on his neck.

Heroine in Chains

We had one of the heroines of Chimurenga dancing with the devils in Gweru. It is either that the devil is now an angel or the heroine is now sleeping with the devil.The heroine's memories of the Chimurenga is now certainly impaired. I forgive her because she was once certified 120% disabled and she did receive compensation for that. It was a mad month this August.

Heroine in Smoke

While one heroine was dancing with the devil, this other heroine from Manicaland was burning the chair she was sitting on. She could see the smoke but could not identify where the fire was coming from.

The smoke is still blowing but our heroine has ungracefully retreated to her honorable office. It is a month of utter madness.

Selous Scout Hero

Call it divine justice but the founder and creator of the famous  Selous Scout unit died peacefully in his sleep in Cape Town in 2010. The Selous Scouts were responsible for nearly 70% of the 60000 black Zimbabweans who died during the Chimurenga War.The guy died in September 2010.

This guy was personally responsible for the raid of Chimoio, Nyadzonia, and other refugee camps.May his tormented Rhodesian soul rest in peace!!!

Family  Heroes

In parliament, a question was asked on the graves of the Gukurahundi disturbance victims. The procedure is that you identify the victim and the grave, and you notify the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry would assist with burial. This is how we bury our family heroes.

Looting Does Not Make You Heroes

In August we saw people without a cause, and the career demonstrators and their rented crowd and criminals do heroic exercise in anarchy. The social media was the judge, and we now know looting and general lawlesness does not make you a hero. This society knows its story, heroes, and its anti-heroes.

Where is Our Heroes Website ?

In this month of August l had the pleasure to visit  the Rhodesian forces website, where  murderers and rapists were rewarded. Where cowardice and atrocities are acknowledged and published. Where is the website of our Chimurenga heroes and heroines?

This was August. This was the month of our Heroes and Heroines!!!