Zimbabwe’s security force leaders sidelined the nation’s economic chiefs and forced the government to issue an order to close the stock exchange and halt most mobile money transactions, people familiar with the situation said.

The 26 June order came after pressure from the Joint Operations Command and was made without notifying the central bank, which regulates the mobile money industry through which almost all of Zimbabwe’s commerce takes place, the people said.

Evidence linking the mobile money platforms to money laundering as well as illegal foreign exchange trading and money creation had been uncovered

The JOC includes officials from the military, police and secret service and is the highest body in terms of coordinating state security, though it doesn’t usually pronounce on economic matters.

Unaware

Central bank officials were unaware of the order when called by mobile money companies on 26 June, two of the people said.

We are fully cognisant that this is a battle being fuelled by our political detractors, elite opportunists and malcontents…

As pressure grows on the administration of Mnangagwa, who succeeded longtime ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 after a military coup, the leader has increasingly blamed the private sector for the nation’s woes.