HARARE, Zimbabwe – With the verdict in on Zimbabwe’s presidential election runoff, it is back to reality for the long-suffering masses of this southern African country of 12 million.
For many, in spite of the controversy surrounding the runoff pitting President Robert Mugabe of Zanu PF against Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the election provided a real hope that the worst would finally be over. But this was not to be and it looks like the old man has dug in and is ready for the long haul.
Since Mugabe’s controversial land-grab policy that saw the eviction of more than 4,000 white commercial farmers from their land in favour of black Zimbabweans, the country’s economy has been in free-fall. Now he is threatening to grab what’s left: the mines, foreign-owned firms, whatever can be grabbed, regardless of adverse macro-economic consequences.
Supermarket shelves are virtually empty in Harare with no bread, maize or rice and only a bit of expensive pasta.
Official inflation is currently estimated at a staggering nine million per cent. The local unit, the Zimbabwe dollar, is virtually worthless and, at the time of writing this article, was trading at anywhere between $30 billion Zimbabwean, for cash transaction, and $65 billion for bank transfer against the U.S. dollar. The bank transfer is more expensive because it is not easy to get money out, after depositing it. The central bank governor this week reviewed the daily maximum cash withdrawal to $100 billion for both companies and individuals.
The impact of the economic meltdown is profoundly visible. Supermarket shelves are now empty and this has come in a cruel way. Starch products have disappeared. There’s no bread, no maize meal, no rice. If you are lucky you can come across some pasta, but at an exorbitant cost. The other day I drove down from Harare to the southern border town of Beit Bridge, some 600 km away, and couldn’t find anything to eat or drink between the two. My colleague, who is addicted to Coca-Cola, had to endure a very thirsty six-hour journey as there was not a can or bottle in sight. When we eventually got to a place that had a few cans in stock, they were calling for a ridiculous $58 billion for a Coke Light. Despite his desperate thirst, common sense prevailed and he gave it a pass.
Overnight accommodation at a local hotel set us back $5 trillion, way above a medium-sized company’s total salary bill. I had to break down payment to six cheques because the maximum one can draw on one cheque is $900 billion. The cost of living no longer makes sense. A kilogram of beef is going for $370 billion, in excess of what many executives are taking home. One has to go to the bank four times a day, just to withdraw enough money for this and by that time, the price will definitely have changed.
Salaries for the majority range from as little as $15 billion to $300 billion before tax — less than a kilogram of beef. Salaries now have to be reviewed weekly in Zimbabwe for them to make sense. Unfortunately the majority of employers cannot afford this, leaving their employees to bear the brunt.
My wife resigned from her job last month. Her decision had nothing to do with her employer. She had literally worn out the carpet with her trips down the corridor to her boss to ask for salary reviews. This had become a source of embarrassment to her and we agreed it was better for her to take a break after 12 years of loyal service to her employer. These times call for great innovation and many have discovered that formal employment can actually blind them from opportunities galore brought about by the current chaos in the economy. Temporary reprieve can be found in simple trade in commodities. The number of people venturing down to South Africa, up north to Zambia, west to Botswana or east to Mozambique in search of basic commodities has risen sharply and they often come back with extras to sell to those who cannot do the same.
For me, the reality is scary, but I somehow make it, one day at a time. My rentals far exceed my income by 10:1 and the gap is widening by the day. I have also learned to be innovative.
Indeed, Zimbabwe is no longer for the faint-hearted, nor the lily-livered.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008