WHEN Fungai Moyo lands at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport after a business trip to Johannesburg, he experiences a financial jolt.
His iPhone, seamlessly used for Apple Pay transactions in South Africa, becomes a simple communication device.
The future of payments, he says, “switches off the moment I touch down”.
Back in Harare, his wallet still bulges with a piece of plastic that global experts claim is heading for obsolescence.
Moyo’s experience encapsulates a national dilemma. Zimbabwe stands at a digital crossroads, caught between the rapid global shift towards invisible, tokenised payments and a local reality where the humble plastic card is both a lifeline and a liability.
As revealed at a recent Institute of Bankers of Zimbabwe panel in Cape Town, South Africa, banks are losing a major revenue stream from cards, yet 25% of all electronic payments still rely on them. The question is no longer “if” the future of payments is coming, but whether Zimbabwe will be a participant or a spectator.
The tension is palpable among the very architects of Zimbabwe’s financial system.
Bianca Chiedza Mahoso, digital channels manager at National Building Society, pointed to a world where cards are “disappearing”, embedded into phones and wearables, secured by tokenisation.
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“MasterCard ... (plans) that 100% of their transactions should be tokenised,” she noted, before delivering the sobering punchline: “Are we ready for that? No.”
The urgency is economic as much as it is technological.
Ignatius Mudyiwa, product manager for cards and alternative payments at NMB, revealed that the regulator’s push for “free banking” has eroded the traditional revenue model for card payments.
“The current swiping model for banks is no longer sustainable,” he stated, forcing a frantic pivot towards leveraging customer data and embedding new services simply to survive.
This high-level strategic shift has tangible consequences.
For Musa Chigogo, who runs a boutique selling handmade crafts online, the lack of integrated digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay means lost international sales.
“I see the traffic on my site from overseas, but at checkout, they often abandon their cart. Our solutions aren’t as smooth as what they are used to.”
Meanwhile, for banks, the push for digital cards is hamstrung by the very infrastructure they need to support them.
Caroline Masuka, digital banking channels manager at CABS, issued a clarion call.
“Let us unite as an industry ... Let us push for solutions that can help us serve our customers better.”
Her plea highlights a critical gap: the nation cannot modernise card issuance if the digital wallets to host them remain inaccessible.
Amidst the challenges, a blueprint for the future is being drawn.
Wonderful Mupazviribwo, manager for digital transformation and innovation at ZimSwitch, which processes 75% of the country’s card transactions, reframes the disruption as an “opportunity”.
He points to home-grown, card-less solutions such as Zipit and ZEEPAY as evidence that the national switch is building bridges to the future.
Zipit is an instant inter-bank funds transfer system in Zimbabwe, while ZEEPAY is a secure, cost-effective and efficient solution that facilitates electronic funds transfers across the Zimswitch Automated Clearing House.
The solution, it seems, is not to blindly follow global trends, but to forge a uniquely Zimbabwean path.
As Mahoso astutely observed, the card is not dying but evolving.
The future may lie in wearable technology, rings, keys, and glasses that contain the power of a card, giving customers choice while leapfrogging the limitations of plastic.
The fate of Zimbabwe’s payment system hangs in the balance, trapped in a plastic paradox. The card, a symbol of modern finance, has become a symbol of a system in transition, too outdated for the global future, yet too essential to discard.
Unlocking the next chapter will require more than just technology; it will demand the very unity and strategic collaboration that these financial leaders are now, finally, calling for.
The world is moving towards invisible money, and Zimbabwe must decide if it will build the infrastructure to see it.
“Now, it is about evolution and a futuristic mindset, because we know if we are going to sit on our laurels, the world will overtake us and we will be left in the dustbin,” Mupazviribwo emphasised.
