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It is illegal to do conditional selling ”
Government says it is illegal for supermarkets or other retail shops to demand that customers using bank cards buy a certain amount of goods for them to get some cash in return.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said this in the Senate on Thursday as she urged Zimbabweans, including pensioners, to migrate from cash exchanges to electronic transactions.
Chief Charumbira asked what policy interventions Government was putting in place to protect consumers using electronic cards from being fleeced by retailers.
Minister Mupfumira said: “Obviously, it is illegal to do conditional selling. If it is brought to the authorities’ attention, it will be dealt with accordingly and the relevant ministry should be advised.
“The plastic money I was talking about is like your Visa cards and so forth because we are moving away, like everywhere else in the world, from using cash or transporting cash and we are saying we need to get everybody on board, including people in rural areas to be able to have that plastic (card) similar to a Visa card.”
MDC-T Senator for Midlands Lilian Timveos asked Minister Mupfumira what Government was doing about pensioneers whose pay dates were changed on several occasions resulting in some of them spending a lot of money trying to access $20 that some of them got.
Minister Mupfumira said it was incumbent upon Treasury to advise the ministry on time when pay dates changed from the earlier advertised ones. “I have noticed with concern that there have been incidences where the pay dates have been changed at the last moment without adequate time for us to inform our pensioners,” she said.
- Herald
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