‘Kuchatiswa’ (loosely translated ‘to get hitched) was a very common word for commuters in the last four-five years.
The above term referred to two people being given a dollar by a kombi conductor because he did not have enough ‘coins’ for change.
Therefore, to avoid confusion, the conductor would partner two people and ask them to look for their own change once they got off the commuter omnibus.
It was inconvenient because at times people would be going in different directions and looking for change, especially in the hustle and bustle of the rush hour, was a nightmare.
As time went on, some vendors and ‘coin barons’ took advantage of the situation and came to the aid of commuters.
Vendors and the ‘coin barons’ approached passengers and conductors.
And ‘Pane ari kuda marands here vabereki?’ became a common phrase at every rank in Harare.
This was a common routine until a few weeks ago when the rand began to weaken and the bond coin became the preferred currency.
At first, kombis called for 7 R for the normally 5 R route and doubled the amount for a US$1 route.
The anthem soon changed and they started rejecting the rand coins.
And now, everyone is rejecting the rand coins.
Everyone, including schoolchildren know that the rand ‘haritengi’ (you cannot buy anything with rand coins).
A survey by The Patriot at Copacabana and Fourth Street ranks in Harare showed that newspaper and plastic bag vendors are not accepting rand coins.
Most supermarkets are also rejecting the coins.
This rejection of the rand as a medium of exchange by supermarkets and other retailers has taken ‘coin barons’ out of business.
The barons have since switched to other businesses, while others have simply ‘disappeared’.
The rand was part of a basket of multiple currencies introduced by Government in 2009.
The RBZ introduced US$10 million worth of bond coins in December last year to address the problem of small change that had arisen, resulting in consumers getting unbudgeted items for change.
The coins are denominated at 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents and are pegged to the corresponding values in US currency.
The 50-cent bond coin was only released in March 2015.
Out of the US$10 million worth of bond coins unveiled last year, US$9 million worth of bond coins is already circulating.
Interestingly, bond coins were also rejected by the market just after introduction, amid rumours they were being used as a precursor to the Zimbabwe dollar, an idea that was rejected by the RBZ.
However, following the depreciation of the rand, bond coins have become a hit in the country with cities such as Bulawayo that insisted on the rand almost six years ago also calling on consumers to pay in US-dollars or bond coins
Of late, consumers have been urging the RBZ to release more bond coins into circulation to increase the ease of transactions.
Zimbabwe is a dollarised economy with a basket of currencies that includes the British pound, South African rand, Botswana pula, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, Indian rupee and the Euro.
With an increased level of the bond coins entering circulation, it is expected that the ratio of coins to banknotes will increase to just under below 10 percent of total bank deposits.
Last week, the rand fell to record levels against the US-dollar.
The South African rand depreciated by more than one percent against the US-dollar on November 12 2015.
The output, in terms of mining and gold production pointed towards a contraction.
Inflation growth and retail sales figures in South Africa are expected this week.
These figures will likely guide forward movement of the South African rand.