Street currency traders in Zimbabwe are shifting from their usual spots in city centres to messaging platform WhatsApp to avoid arrest, as the central bank and police intensify their crackdown on the unofficial market, accused of exacerbating currency crashes.

The clampdown is the latest effort to protect the new gold-backed currency, the ZiG, from being undermined by traders who primarily deal in US Dollars.

Authorities have accused these traders of contributing to the collapse of the defunct Zimbabwean Dollar, which the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold, replaced on 5th April. 

By the time the Zimbabwean Dollar was abandoned, it had lost more than 80% of its value against the Dollar on the unofficial market this year, Bloomberg reports.

The dealers, who were temporarily sidelined by the transition from the Zimbabwean Dollar to the ZiG as banks and mobile-money operators struggled to adapt their systems to the new currency, have now returned to business in recent days. 

However, arrests have also increased, pushing traders to resort to using the Whatsapp messenger service to conduct transactions with clients they trust.

On Tuesday, on the platform, one Dollar could be exchanged for 17 ZiGs, whereas on the official market, it was 13.42.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe, at least 100 street traders have been arrested across the country since the launch of the ZiG. Most of these arrests occurred in the capital, Harare. All of the arrested individuals have been denied bail.

On Monday, Neville Mutsvangwa, the son of cabinet Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, was denied bail on charges of allegedly “dealing in foreign currency” since 2019, which is a violation of exchange-control regulations and the money-laundering act. The prosecuting authority stated that Mutsvangwa will remain in custody until 30th May. 

Furthermore, last weekend, the country’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube pledged to defend the ZiG at all costs. “There are some which try this and that to make it unstable. But as government we are determined to keep it stable,” he said on X.