Queues for cash at MetBank (Picture)

As the cash crunch bites in Zimbabwe, these were the queues at a MetBank branch this week.

With just over a week before Christmas, hoards of clients besieged Allied Bank, Met Bank and the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) desperate to withdraw their money, but were disappointed as the institutions had run dry.

Anti-riot police used teargas to quell disturbances in central Harare on Monday when angry depositors stormed the Allied Bank, demanding their cash, as the liquidity crunch deepens ahead of the festive season.

But the bank, owned by Transport Minister Obert Mpofu, had no cash to dispense worsening the already tense situation for the depositors who had been waiting over a week to withdraw their salaries.