Opinion / Columnist
Worried gvt officials are seeking solutions to economic meltdown but avoid Mugabe - the elephant in the room!
04 Mar 2015 at 06:21hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is now so serious that all efforts by the Zanu PF government to ignore the problem are now futile as hardly a day goes by these days without a big story on the subject. Sadly, none of the regime's officials are willing to deal with the meat of the problem and the meat of the solution.
"Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZRA) boss Gershem Pasi called for wage cuts, saying the economy could not sustain current "high" salaries, but the ZCTU said he should stay out of salary issues and concentrate on tax collection," reported the Southern Eye.
In January the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Manguda said government should freeze civil servant wages his monetary policy statement.
Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa last week announced that he was rescheduling government's local debt because there was no money to pay the debt. He has been borrowing like crazy to make up for the short of expenditure from the collected revenue.
Revenue from diamond sale has "dramatic shrunk" according to a twit from Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo.
The bottom line is that government is spending 80% of collected revenue on wages alone, the norm is 30% and ZRA is collecting less and less with each passing month because more and more companies are closing down and there are no new ones opening to take their place. Minister Chinamasa has been forced to borrow more and more to make up for shortfall in collected revenue.
The economic meltdown is having equally devastating impact of the rest of the nation. Unemployment has soared to 90% plus; incomes have dropped to their lowest level in 60 years and 76% of the population now live on less than $200 a month; last year 80% of the children were go in school because their parents could not afford the school fees; etc.
The economic situation is clearly terrible but what makes it ever depressing is that it is set to get even worse and not better. Mugabe's $27 billion ZimAsset economic recovery plan is dead in the water; he only managed to raise $7 billion in post-dated cheques in project funding and nothing for the critical area of budgetary support which would eased Minister Chinamasa's financial juggling.
The proposals to freeze or to cut wages, which the regime is reportedly working, from the RBZ and ZRA bosses in commendable in that is shows these two institutions are at least thinking of the problems posed by economic meltdown. As for the proposals themselves; it is clear these measures will ease government's financial problems for a few months, at best.
"The government also needs to devise ways to revive the manufacturing industry instead of sacrificing the masses for their political survival," was ZCTU official's response to freezing or cutting wages.
It is all very well for the Trade Union Leader to be fighting for the workers in normal time but these are abnormal times. What is the point of talking about "revive manufacturing industry" when the government's plan, ZimAsset, to do just that is dead and buried. The Union could demand answers as to why government was not receiving any tax revenue from the sale of Marange diamonds, for example.
There is a tendency by Zimbabwe officials to talk about the tick infestation, the air being full of dandruff, everything else but not mention the elephant in the room bring the ticks, dandruff, etc. It is little wonder the country is in a mess. The current economic meltdown has now reached alarming level we must deal with it and stop pussy-footing round the problem.
No nation can continue to spend 80% of its collected revenue on wages and ignore the fact that teachers need books, nurses need medicines, etc. to do their work. It is therefore nonsensical to pay these civil servants wages but deny them the materials and tools necessary for them to carry out the work for which they are being paid.
It is morally, socially and politically unsustainable to have 90% unemployed, 76% living on $200 a month, etc.
Since Zanu PF's ZimAsset recovery plan is dead in the water and the regime has no alternative plan on how to end the economic meltdown it is moral and political imperative for the regime to step down so the country can have fresh elections and a new government with a fresh mandate to address the economic meltdown. This Zanu PF regime is the elephant in the room and it must go; get rid of the elephant and the tick infestation, the clouds dandruff, etc. with go with it!
"Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZRA) boss Gershem Pasi called for wage cuts, saying the economy could not sustain current "high" salaries, but the ZCTU said he should stay out of salary issues and concentrate on tax collection," reported the Southern Eye.
In January the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Manguda said government should freeze civil servant wages his monetary policy statement.
Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa last week announced that he was rescheduling government's local debt because there was no money to pay the debt. He has been borrowing like crazy to make up for the short of expenditure from the collected revenue.
Revenue from diamond sale has "dramatic shrunk" according to a twit from Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo.
The bottom line is that government is spending 80% of collected revenue on wages alone, the norm is 30% and ZRA is collecting less and less with each passing month because more and more companies are closing down and there are no new ones opening to take their place. Minister Chinamasa has been forced to borrow more and more to make up for shortfall in collected revenue.
The economic meltdown is having equally devastating impact of the rest of the nation. Unemployment has soared to 90% plus; incomes have dropped to their lowest level in 60 years and 76% of the population now live on less than $200 a month; last year 80% of the children were go in school because their parents could not afford the school fees; etc.
The proposals to freeze or to cut wages, which the regime is reportedly working, from the RBZ and ZRA bosses in commendable in that is shows these two institutions are at least thinking of the problems posed by economic meltdown. As for the proposals themselves; it is clear these measures will ease government's financial problems for a few months, at best.
"The government also needs to devise ways to revive the manufacturing industry instead of sacrificing the masses for their political survival," was ZCTU official's response to freezing or cutting wages.
It is all very well for the Trade Union Leader to be fighting for the workers in normal time but these are abnormal times. What is the point of talking about "revive manufacturing industry" when the government's plan, ZimAsset, to do just that is dead and buried. The Union could demand answers as to why government was not receiving any tax revenue from the sale of Marange diamonds, for example.
There is a tendency by Zimbabwe officials to talk about the tick infestation, the air being full of dandruff, everything else but not mention the elephant in the room bring the ticks, dandruff, etc. It is little wonder the country is in a mess. The current economic meltdown has now reached alarming level we must deal with it and stop pussy-footing round the problem.
No nation can continue to spend 80% of its collected revenue on wages and ignore the fact that teachers need books, nurses need medicines, etc. to do their work. It is therefore nonsensical to pay these civil servants wages but deny them the materials and tools necessary for them to carry out the work for which they are being paid.
It is morally, socially and politically unsustainable to have 90% unemployed, 76% living on $200 a month, etc.
Since Zanu PF's ZimAsset recovery plan is dead in the water and the regime has no alternative plan on how to end the economic meltdown it is moral and political imperative for the regime to step down so the country can have fresh elections and a new government with a fresh mandate to address the economic meltdown. This Zanu PF regime is the elephant in the room and it must go; get rid of the elephant and the tick infestation, the clouds dandruff, etc. with go with it!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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