Thursday, November 24, 2005

Death and hardship in Zimbabwe

One day whilst I was living in Francistown I received a phone call to tell us that one of my  friend's cousins had died in Bulawayo. The next weekend we crossed the border into Zimbabwe and headed to the house.

We crossed the border at Plumtree countless times. I'd often spend weekends in Bulawayo. Hotels were cheap. You'd change your Botswana Pula into Zim Dolars at the border and for what amounted to enough money for a few groceries in Botswana you could enjoy a great weekend in Bulawayo.

The border crossing was relatively painless. It was as frustrating at times but I was rarely harassed. To be fair the Zimbabwean officials treated me with great respect, despite my British passport, and I'd often face more needless bureaucracy when crossing back in to Bots - even with residence permits! On the odd occasion I had to pay tax on the groceries I was carrying. The tax was pittance but the delay caused by queuing to pay it was an unnecessary burden.

The groceries we carried were for people I knew in the Bulawayo area. Due to the ever worsening plight of the people of Zimbabwe it became increasing necessary for me to carry groceries including mealie meal, sugar, flour, cooking oil and salt every time I traveled. These commodities were unavailable in Bulawayo at that time. 

After crossing the border one would pull over into a lay-by where one would instantly be surrounded by dozens of young lads offering varying exchange rates for Botswana Pula. After making the trip several times I got to know a few of the boys and     I     always used the same ones when changing money. That way one could be sure to avoid the special branch officers who allegedly infiltrated the money changers. I'd pick up one of our lads at the border and drive slowly to Plumtree village, a few KM's away. As I drove i would sort out the exchange of currency with the lad. The system worked well and was safe. After the deal was done we'd drop the lad off at Plumtree village so that he could make his way back to the border. Using the parallel market became a perfectly natural thing to do and literally everyone from Botswana travelling into Zims did the same.

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