Econet has come under fire from its Ecocash agents who feel hard done by the new 0.6% levy on agent to agent transactions done at its Econet shops and Steward Bank branches.
The leading telecommunications giant in Zimbabwe has made it compulsory to debit 0.6% of transacted money on all agent to agent transactions on top of the regular one dollar for amounts below $200 and two dollars for those above.
The move has not gone down well with the more than 12000 Ecocash dotted across the country who believe, they will not be able to remain afloat if this levy is not revised or completely scrapped.
A message sent from Ecocash to its agents last week informed agents that they will be charged an additional 0.6% levy on all agent to agent cash out transactions and this seems to have not gone down well with its agents who feel the move does not make business sense.
The message reads, “Dear agents. Agent to agent transactions done at Econet shops now Reward a 0.6% commission for cash-ins and a 0.6 % charge for cash out.”
While the message indicates a 0.6 % reward for cash-ins, evidence gathered by 263chat suggests that most of the agents use Econet shops for cash out transactions, something that could have pushed Econet to capitalize on.
There has been an outcry from scores of EcoCash agents who spoke to this reporter expressing agony over this new development which they say has negatively affected their operations.
“This is not fair on our part as agents, Every time we run out of cash we need to go to the bank to get cash but with this charge, we have to avoid bank and this means we can no longer serve all our customers,” charged Allen Tewo a Harare based EcoCash agent who lamented that he will be out of business soon.
He added that on a daily basis he used to go to Steward Bank to get cash of around $2000.
“I used to go to Steward Bank every morning to make a cash-out transaction of close to $2000 but with this charge I cannot do this every day. For $2000, I will be losing $14 meaning that if I am to go to the bank every day of the month, I will lose more than $400 in a month,” said Tewo.
Another Agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said this move means that agents have Econet as their biggest competitor.
“This new development simply means that Econet is now competing with its agents and for obvious reasons we will not win the battle, they have money and customers will end up flooding Econet shops since they will not be able to get cash from agents,” she said.
Another agent, Eimos Maphosa blasted Econet for not consulting its agents when making such important decisions. “We demand to be consulted, we are stakeholders in this thing,” said Maphosa.
While urban agents have been the loudest in complaining about the new levy, their rural counterparts are the hardest hit considering that they have to travel to towns to access banking services which means they incur higher costs.
“There are no banks or Econet shops here and we have to go to the nearest town, a cost we cannot avoid, on top of that they charge this 0.6% plus the standard charge for agent to agent. We pray that they will listen to our plea and reverse that decision to enable us to stay in business,” said Alice Muchena, a Chivi based agent.
Econet argues that the recent EcoCash developments were meant to ensure that the cash held in the ecosystem is equitably distributed for the benefit of agents and customers.
“The EcoCash system is designed to allow movements of cash from one area to another on a real time basis. This requires cash to be available at the cash in point and the cash out point to facilitate the transaction. One of the mechanisms that we use to control the movement of cash from surplus areas in the ecosystem to deficit areas is the charges and incentives that are placed on agents, merchants and customers,” said Lovemore Nyatsine, the Executive Assistant to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Douglas Mboweni.
