Maridadi says it’s so difficult to open a bank account that at one point I asked the manager if he wanted the birth certificate of my mother’s boyfriend

Mabvuku-Tafara Member of Parliament James Maridadi yesterday said while the saying: “Zimbabwe is open for business”, is now the buzzword, it is so difficult to open a bank account that at one time he got so irritated while trying to open a Constituency Development Fund account that he asked the bank manager whether the manager wanted him to give him the birth certificate of his mother’s boyfriend.

He was speaking during a debate on how difficult it was for legislators to open bank accounts which would be transparent to their constituencies.

Maridadi said one is tossed left, right and centre and it takes about two weeks to open an account.

“At one time I was so irritated; I asked the bank manager if he wanted me to give him the birth certificate of my mother’s boyfriend. That was how angry I was,” he said.

“You are required to give everything; your National Identity Card (I. D.), birth certificate and you are trying to open an account with three other signatories; you give them the details of these signatories, passport size photos and a host of other things that you cannot even imagine.

“Still after giving them those things, they will tell you we still want proof of residence. You bring proof of residence, they will say the surname on this person’s ID and the surname on the utility bill are not corresponding, you need an affidavit.

“It will take you no less than two weeks to open a bank account here in Zimbabwe, yet as foreigner, if you go to China today; you walk into a Chinese bank; all they will ask you to provide is some form of identification.

“You provide your passport; in 10 minutes time, you come out of that bank with a bank account and an ATM card.”

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda said he would talk to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya to make sure the banks change their colonial mindset because legislators have only four months to use the money.

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