The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
Cash disbursements to vulnerable households affected by Covid-19 are set to resume soon as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) finalises its investigations into abuse of mobile money platforms, which were the key medium for the pay-outs.
The payments were affected when bulk payments were suspended in June.
Government plans to pay over a million households to cushion them from the fallout of the coronavirus.
Most of the beneficiaries had been registered under NetOne’s OneMoney mobile platform.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told The Sunday Mail that Government was presently working on modalities to resume payments.
“The audit is almost complete; we are finalising it.
“The findings of the audit will inform us on the way forward and how the payments will be done going forward, and we are sure we will be done soon.
“We are, however, urging the beneficiaries to open bank accounts to ease the challenge currently being faced.”
So far 300 000 vulnerable households have received funds since disbursements started in April.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prof Paul Mavima said despite the hitch, the beneficiaries were now opening bank accounts to facilitate the cash transfers.
“About 300 000 households have received the cash transfers so far. However, the process has been hampered by suspension of the bulk payments,” he said.
“So we are now encouraging the beneficiaries to open bank accounts where the cash will be transferred into.
“From the bank, the beneficiaries can transfer from bank to wallet on their own. We are working on modalities so they can change the systems.”
Zimbabwe went into lockdown on March 30, but it has progressively been eased as the Government tries to balance saving lives and economic growth.
Vulnerable members of the public such as the elderly and disabled have been hard hit by the pandemic.
Recently, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said one million households will start receiving $300 monthly pay-outs as part of Government efforts to cushion people whose sources of income have been affected by Covid-19.
Prof Ncube said the total number of beneficiaries might rise depending on the response from the public.
