Will civil servants bonuses be paid in bond notes?

The framework for civil servants' bonuses will be outlined in the 2017 National Budget, the Finance minister has said, declining to state if the government workers will be paid in bond notes.

The 2017 National Budget will be presented to a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on Thursday, December 8.

Responding to a question by MDC Proportional Representation MP, Bacillia Majaya, Chinamasa declined to state if the legal tender - which will trade along nine other foreign currencies - will be used to pay government workers.

Majaya said: "Since the bond notes will be introduced next week, I want to find out whether civil servants will get all their bonuses before we get to January?"

"Clearly Mr Speaker Sir, the question of bond notes is not related at all," Chinamasa retorted amid inaudible interjections from the opposition bench.

"It is not and those issues are matters that would be discussed in the framework of the 2017 budget."

In a supplementary question, Musikavanhu MDC MP Prosper Mutseyami asked what system Chinamasa was putting in place to deal with supermarkets rejecting plastic money, demanding cash for basics like cooking oil, sugar and rice.

"This is being witnessed, especially in shops that are owned by foreigners such as Indians, Chinese and Asians," Mutseyami said.

"The reason why they are refusing plastic money is because no money is going into their accounts. What measures are you taking to enforce such shops to accept plastic money? These are shops such as Choppies and others," he said to loud shouts.

The Botswana-based and JSE-listed fast-expanding retail chain Choppies, which operates 29 outlets in Zimbabwe, is owned by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, with his son Siqokoqela as its local director.

Speaker Jacob Mudenda declined to have the question answered.

"Order, order, the trio on my right," he bellowed. "The original question was related to bond notes in so far as paying civil servants bonuses, so your supplementary question does not arise."

In a notice to the public, Harare supermarkets have highlighted their new order.

"Notice on Cooking Oil: ‘Due to manufacturers demanding hard cash payment to supply us, please note all cooking oil will now be sold on a strictly CASH basis in order for us to be able to re-stock. We apologise for this inconvenience which is out of our control'," read a notice at one of the supermarkets.

This comes as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya, has been on a media campaign drumming support for the use of plastic money to promote ease-of-doing-business in the ongoing bond notes campaign.