In Harare in 2019, cash itself was being sold. A report based on a Herald investigation observed a long, winding queue of cash buyers every morning from 7 to 9 at the corner of Robert Mugabe Road and Leopold Takawira Street. An EcoCash agent sold coins at an 18 percent premium and bond notes at 20 percent, while commuters sought physical money to pay minibus fares.
An electronic balance could not move daily life when transport operators and retailers demanded cash. Customers were purchasing the means of payment, transferring digital money and adding a premium simply to obtain notes or coins. The shortage moved the queue away from a bank and into an informal wholesale market on a city corner.