BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
@SunZambian
COMMERCIAL banks are worried about Government schools and tertiary education insistency on actual cash deposit for tuition fees instead of electronic payments, thereby congesting the branches throughout Zambia which is against the five golden rules to fight Covid-19.
The schools are only admitting cash deposit into their school accounts not any other means of payments like electronic fund transfer, says Bankers Association of Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Leonard Mwanza.
Mr Mwanza in an interview complained that the banks were finding it difficult to deal with the current situation, especially at a time when the Covid-19 cases were rising on a daily basis.
“It is not just secondary schools even tertiary institutions such as the bill buster, you have to go into a branch to pay. These are for the University of Zambia and Mulungushi University where you need to visit the branch physically,” he said.
Mr Mwanza said the banks were currently overwhelmed by a number of parents and students that had flooded their branches without practicing social distancing
“Parents and children are congesting banks branches and breaking one of the key golden rules in the fight against Covid-19 in terms of social distancing so banks are overwhelmed, creating another super spreader environment in bank branches.
“Children and parents are queuing up impatiently and congesting bank branches so the children, parents and members of staff are all exposed to the overcrowding effects,” he said.
Mr Mwanza had since urged Government to revise its policy and advise all their schools to adopt and admit electronic payment transactions which are available in the market.
