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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 79975, member: 636"] Total holiday chaos mode across Zimbabwe. Travelers got absolutely rinsed by bus operators jacking up prices, with routes like Harare to Mhondoro seeing fares spike from a few bucks to fifteen dollars overnight. People like Anna Chinjanja called it a straight-up ripoff. Retailers, though, cleaned up. A shop owner named Kudakwashe Chipere reported business shooting up by fifty percent as everyone scrambled for last-minute groceries and gifts. The scenes in Harare's downtown and Mbare were packed, with cops trying to manage gridlocked traffic and crowded pavements. The transport sector was a mess. A guy named Andrew Mandaza, who runs public transport, admitted demand skyrocketed. Some sketchy truck owners even rigged up tarps on their flatbeds to ferry desperate passengers in the rain. A commuter group rep, Ngoni Katsvairo, begged drivers to slow down and check their brakes, but the warning clearly didn't stop the price gouging. Over in Bulawayo, terminals like Entumbane and Renkini were swarmed with people loading buses with everything from building supplies to groceries. A traveler named Angela Mlambo noted she bought everything near the bus to save on cart fees, but still got hit with higher ticket prices. Beyond the travel insanity, barber shops and salons were slammed for last-minute cuts. Families flooded a farm in Tynwald to buy goats for traditional meals. Meanwhile, car wash operators sat around with nothing to do because the rain kept customers away. The whole vibe was a mix of frantic preparation and getting squeezed for cash, with money transfer agents also seeing long lines from people collecting diaspora cash. It was less a silent night and more a noisy, expensive scramble. [/QUOTE]

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