Zimbabwe’s banking sector has been hit by a crippling cash crunch that has caused a serious shortage of cash for bank customers leading to violent street demonstrations, the Africa Review reported.

Angry depositors violently demonstrated in the capital city Harare on Monday, destroying private property after they were unable to withdraw cash from their ban account across the city. The chaos slipped over to Bulawayo.

Depositors were made to queue for several hours to get their money. A number of banks, especially those that are locally owned, have limited the amount of cash withdrawals since August, a month after President Robert Mugabe won a controversial re-election.

Zimbabwe has been suffering a serious liquidity crunch since the end of an inclusive government President Mugabe had formed in 2009. The situation has been worsened by the veteran ruler’s move to seize foreign owned companies including British and South African banks.

However, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has resisted attempts to tamper with the banking sector saying it is too sensitive.

Foreign banks such as Barclays and Standard Chartered are the most dominant players in the economy and are more stable than indigenous banks. Last week, the RBZ closed down one of the locally owned banks saying its position was not financially sound.

The cash shortages have brought back memories of a serious financial crisis that hit the south African country in 2007 and eventually forced the central bank to abandon its currency in 2009 to adopt the United States dollar.

One of the affected institutions, Allied Bank’s chief executive officer Stephen Gwasira told Africa Review the cash crisis was sever but they were working on resolving liquidity crunch.

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience emanating from the prevailing cash shortages, and assure valued customers that the bank is making aggressive efforts to address the liquidity constraints,” he said.

Economists say the liquidity crunch has been worsened by lack of investment and uncertainty caused by the threats to seize foreign owned companies.