Posted on 12/14/2002 3:43:19 AM PST by Clive
The government’s crackdown on Bulawayo’s illegal foreign currency dealers has hit a snag, as the Vapostori women have abandoned the streets to operate from their houses and offices in the city centre.
The women, the major players in the business, were easily identified by their long, white robes. They are no longer seen on the streets where they conducted their business before the government ordered an end to foreign currency agencies on 30 November.
The women vowed then that the police would never stop their operations, and that their business would still flourish despite repeated arrests and harassment by Zanu PF youths.
Sibekiwe Ndebele, one of the foreign currency dealers, said defiantly this week: “Police have long been on the warpath against us, but they must surely admit we’re cleverer than they are. The only thing they have succeeded in doing is to drive us underground. Most of us are now operating from our houses while some liaise with shop owners in town to do their business safely.”
She said most of the women no longer wore their usual long, white dresses. She said shop owners were paid a fee by those they offered rooms in which to do their business.
Another dealer, identifying herself only as Rukweza, said business was still booming as they received more clients from South Africa and Botswana. “There is more business these days because people are coming home for Christmas, especially those working in South Africa and Botswana. Now that the police do not want to see us on the streets, we now operate safely from our houses, and our clients are fully aware of that development,” she said.
And the true price of the fungible is the so-called "black market" or "parallel market" price.
The true price of a commodity is that price which a willing buyer will offer and a willing seller will accept. This is particularly true of fungibles.
Money is a fungible.
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