An advert inserted in the country’s major newspapers by Barclays Bank has left a lot of people confused on the message being sent through by the bank, causing panic in the notorious central intelligence organisation, CIO.
The advert telling Zimbabweans to “take a stand and say enough is enough” has sparked controversy, with many people reading it as a political statement against the government.
“It’s time to take a stand. There comes a time when one says enough is enough. A time when one has to do the right thing. Stand up for what you believe in, your inner convictions,” the ad says.
“Stop making excuses and show your true courage. If not you then who? All of us collectively have a duty to stand up and be counted. We have taken a stand and we are standing firm, ” it continues.
Most people interpret the message as an instigation for Zimbabweans to revolt against the government that stands accused of running down the country especially coming in at a time that the government is introducing the controversial Bond Notes.
CIOs were sent into overdrive during the week searching for clues of possible legal breaches.
But speaking to ZimEye.com, the bank’s head of marketing, Dennis Mambure diffused the interpretation stating that the advert was not any political statement but just a marketing statement pivoting on irony.
“We launched a mortgage product which we are offering to all our customers; it has a tenure of 20 years and favorable interest rates. So we took a creative licence to use the word ‘stand’,” Mambure said
“As you would appreciate, for you to have a house, naturally it can’t be placed in the air, it has to sit on a stand. So essentially, we were saying to our customers ‘take a stand’, ‘take a house’.”
Mambure told ZimEye.com that their bank is apolitical and will never find itself involved in national politics.
“We are very apolitical as a bank and what we do best is serve our customers, sell them life-changing products like mortgages,” he said.
“The decisions and communications that we make are solely for the pushing of our products for the benefit of our clients and customers.”
The Bank was recently reported as plotting to close off its operations in Zimbabwe after over sixty years in the country.
A number of the bank’s branches throughout the country have been closed down in recent years restricting operations to a few major cities and with one or two branches in each city.
The bank disputed the claims on its intended relocation from the country claiming that closure of the numerous branches around the country was a mere cost cutting measure.