BY A CORRESPONDENT| The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Panonetsa Mangudya has disowned a couple who were spotted hugging at the Smoking Zone of the bank premises, saying they are employees of one of their service providers.

In a statement, Mangudya said they had informed the service providers and registered their concern at the behaviour of their employees.

“The images are of employees of one of the Bank’s service providers. The Bank has since advised the service provider of this development and its great disappointment with the behaviour of the duo,” said Mangudya.

He added that the incident was captured on one of their high definition CCTV which revealed that it happened around 1700 hours.

“The Bank’s high definition CCTV footage shows that the incident took place between 1708hrs and 1735hrs on 21 June 2021 and that the two people left the Bank Building at different times after 1900hrs,” added Mangudya.

He further noted that as the central bank, they were not happy with the incident and in their communication with the involved service provider, they emphasized the need for their employees to observe the bank regulations and COVID-19 restrictions.

“The Bank wishes to express its displeasure at the images circulating on social media of a man and woman hugging each other on the smoking zone mezzanine floor of the Bank Building,” said the central bank chief.

Images of two people hugging made waves on social media with the caption “kugadzirisa nyika”.