ILLEGAL money changers are slowly coming back to the city centre in Bulawayo while a majority are now operating from residential areas as the 21-day national lockdown entered Day 9 yesterday.

The money changers, in blatant defiance of the lockdown directive for people to stay at home, have started pushing street forex rates up again.

Government last week allowed businesses to trade in forex and pegged the US dollar at 1:25.

At the time, street rates were as high as 1:43 for electronic transfers and due to absence of money changers on the street, they went as low as 32 but had risen to around 39 yesterday.

The lockdown which started last week on Monday, is meant to mitigate against the spread of Covid-19 which has infected more than 1,3 million people globally and killed over 78 000.-State media