Wednesday 14 October 2020

Teacher wage soar from US$ 30 to 157 per month - 500% wage rise, 838% inflation = breakneck speed we sinking N Garikai

 "The Public Service Commission is pleased to advise Government workers that the USD 75 Covid 19 allowance for September 2020 is being paid today. Going forward, the USD 75 Covid allowance will be paid on pay days. This effectively means that the least paid worker (B1) is now earning ZWL 11 350.16 (or US$ 141 at ZWL 80: US$1 monthly), while a teacher at entry grade  (D1) earns a total of ZWL 12 591.15 or US$157)," government announced.

This is a very generous offer indeed considering a teacher at entry grade (D1) was earning a mere US$ 30 per month! This constitutes a 500% wage rise. Should the teachers now go out and celebrate? The answer is no for two reasons:

a)    Even with the new wage, teachers are still earning way below Poverty Datum Line (PDL)

The PDL in Zimbabwe is US$650 per month and the new wage increase is only a quarter of the way up. It underlines just how far the teachers are sunk!

b)    The wage rise is already being eroded away because of the high inflation

Government has not discovered an unknown source of revenue to pay for these 500% wage increase for the civil servants, it is going to print money. And printing money is one sure way of fuelling inflation. Inflation is already running at 838% year on year and so it is a certainty that inflation is going to soar.

But even if we assume inflation remains where it is at 838% year on year; this means in just over six months the teacher earning US$157 per month today will be earning US$ 30 per month. Back where they started!

A 500% wage rise, inflation rate of 838%, etc. these are the symptoms of an economy in serious trouble.

The people of Zimbabwe did not elect this Zanu PF government in July 2018. Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections just as the party had done ever since the country’s independence in 1980. Zanu PF rigged the election and was confident the party will rig economic recovery.

President Mnangagwa was cocksure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call would open the floodgate of investors. It is now crystal clear that no investors are ever going to come. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water. Zanu PF has failed to rig economic recovery.  

Like it or not we must accept the reality that Zanu PF has no clue what to do to revive the economy and, most important of all, that the party will not acknowledge it has failed much less accept the right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

For the last 40 years Zimbabwe has sunk deeper and deeper into this economic and political crisis because the nation was stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime that rigged elections to stay in power.

The need for free, fair and credible election is not just a human right it is the cure to Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance. We must take it or the nation will, one of these day, sink beyond the point of no return – if we have not done so already. A 500% wage increase is proof of our already breakneck speed into the abyss!

14 comments:

  1. Justices Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke conducted the SA judicial review, which concluded that the (2002) poll was not free and fair. But government refused to allow public access to the report until 2014 and only released it after the Mail & Guardian repeatedly appealed to the courts.
    I totally agree, there was no need for SA to refuse to release the 2002 election report. Indeed, it was downright foolish of the regime not to because it only saved to encourage Zanu PF to rig future elections.
    The real tragedy here is that SA’s leaders never learned because if they did President Ramaphosa would not have gone to endorse Zimbabwe’s July 2018 rigged elections. “Elections went well!” he said. And yet the Zanu PF government had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.
    A few months ago now, President Ramaphosa tried to get Zanu PF to clean its act and his envoys were humiliated by Mnangagwa. Ramaphosa said he was going to send the envoys back to Zimbabwe but has not done so. He has been busy licking his wounds!
    Frankly, the people of Zimbabweans do not want SA pocking its big nose into their affairs if that means more of the foolishness of appeasing Zanu PF! We need to get Zanu PF thugs to step down so we can implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Having endorse the rigged July 2018 elections it is clear SA has no leverage to get Zanu PF to step down. SA and SADC messed up and must now ask the UN to step in!

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  2. These pay increases that are not backed by increased production are utterly meaningless. These pay increases are chasing similar price rises of good and services which will rise again in an endless cycle. Indeed, these inflationary increases are reducing production as economic activity always falls with soaring inflation.
    Zimbabweans must finally admit to themselves that it is not wage increases they should be seeking but economic stability born out of good governance.
    Talking of free, fair and credible elections and it is interesting to note that many Zimbabweans out there still do not consider the country's failure to hold free and fair elections as the problem. They will not even talk about it! By pushing rigged elections out of their minds, they hope the problem will go away too. The exact opposite has happened, the curse of bad governance has destroyed the nation’s economy and with it the nation.
    The teachers are all returning to their post in the classrooms for ¼ of the PDL and in six months they will be back on strike because the wages will be worthless again! It is a rat race or be it this race has an end! This is a rat race to the bottom of the abyss.

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  3. @ Blackjecha
    “Prominent analysts like you are general trend setters in terms of political mindset trends. It is sad that you are sowing ideas of division in the only true opposition (MDC-A). At the moment the only option of mass substance is Chamisa. It takes a lot of time and resources to convince the Gogos and grade 3 dropouts in the rural areas of a better new leader. (Mind you people like Biti etc are more capable hands)Lets not divide Chamisa's vote. Let’s stand by him for now. Zanu PF is not a joke my friend.”
    What the people of Zimbabwe are dying, literally, to hear is the truth. If Nelson Chamisa is corrupt, incompetent and has completely run out of ideas what to do to get the country out of the mess. Then that is exactly what the people of Zimbabwe MUST hear.
    There are some people prefer to bury their heads in the sand because they view anything critical of the opposition unacceptable even if it is the truth. Of course, they are entitled to their views; but they must not lie and tell us their foolishness is what the nation wants to hear. The people want to hear what is going to get them out of this mess. If it is true that a corrupt, incompetent and totally confused Chamisa is not going to get the nation out of this mess then they want to hear that.

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  4. @ Anesu Godo

    Zimbabwe has a population of 16 million and you think only three are the only ones who can rule Mnangagwa, Khupe or Chamisa! No one is more blind than he who refuse to open his eyes!

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  5. There is now a mountain of information out there to show that mismanagement and corruption are the root causes of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. Zanu PF is making a mountain out of a mole hill in presenting sanctions as the root cause of the meltdown. There are those of small intellect who cannot distinguish a mole hill from a mountain and thus chose to believe the propaganda. Such is life!

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  6. @ Nomazulu

    It was Jesus Christ Himself who said the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. The same can and must be said about culture. We must keep those cultural practices that save man and fine tune or, if necessary, discard these that no longer save mankind. Culture and tradition must change to save man and it is not man to change to suit culture and tradition.

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  7. A recent Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) dossier seen by this newspaper, reveals that during the course of the restructuring exercise, Health Deputy minister John Mangwiro potentially violated public procurement procedures by directing the NatPharm acting general manager and the adjudicating committee to award an undeserving entity Young Health Care a US$6 million contract to procure Covid-19 consumables.

    Members of the adjudicating team that arbitrated in favour of Young Health Care comprise of the newly elevated staff. The contract, through which the country could have been prejudiced US$2 million, has since been re-tendered.

    In an interview with this newspaper, Mangwiro denied any wrongdoing and advised the Zimbabwe Independent to get answers from Zacc.

    Zimbabwe's problems of corruption and rigged elections will never go away as long as Zanu PF remains in power. The party must step down to allow reforms to be implemented and only then can we ever hope to have a clean fresh start!

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  8. There is no difference between Mnangagwa and Kasukuwere, they are both ruthless thugs and their track record in Zanu PF says it all. The people of Zimbabwe must start thinking through what they want and stop going for the easy shortcut! Tyson Wabantu will never get us out of this hell-hole!

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  9. GOVERNMENT has awarded a multi-million dollar tender to a Chinese firm to replace a redundant aviation system following pressure exerted by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) to award the deal to a company drawn from a friendly nation.

    In 2016, military, police and intelligence chiefs - who make up the JOC - covertly supported a Supreme Court challenge by Italian firm Selex ES to successfully overturn the US$33 million tender that was awarded to a Spanish firm - Indra Sistemas.

    Among other reasons, the deal with Indra Sistemas was terminated on the grounds that the tender did not go through procedures as prescribed by law.

    Indra Sistemas did not pass a critical security vetting process by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Air Force of Zimbabwe.

    Hailing from the West, which has slapped Zimbabwe with sanctions, securocrats had reservations over the Spanish entity.

    The vulnerability of Zimbabwe's shambolic radar system was exposed when JOC hastily convened an urgent meeting in 2019 after the aviation system broke down, disrupting flights

    JOC is the real power behind the throne and it is once again flexing its muscle. We all know that the Army and the Chinese have been close partners in the mining of diamonds for decades. The Army; as does the other arms of JOC, the Police, CIO and Prison Service; has a diamond mining concession so cleverly worded it is right to call it a “Licence to loot!”

    The concession allows the holder to mine diamonds without keeping any record of the quality and quantity of diamonds obtained, to whom the diamonds are sold and for how much, who are the beneficiaries and how much they got, how the diamonds are shipped out of the country, etc. The principle reason for keeping no records in because the beneficiaries do not pay a single dollar in income or cooperate tax.

    The beneficiaries of these looting licences are also exempted from a lifestyle audit! This is well and truly institutionalised looting!

    The diamond mining concessions have worked so well for JOC and everyone else concerned they have been extended into other areas such as gold and platinum mining, fuel procurement, command agriculture and, the most recent, procurement of corona virus materials as exemplified by the Drax scandal.

    Of course, the Army and their Chinese partners wanted this aviation project and whatever they want, they get!

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  10. Hobbs previously offered to downsize his Chisuwa Farm, also known as John Impi, situated about 30 kilometres north of Karoi town in Hurungwe North constituency.

    He was one of the few white farmers who supported the ruling party.

    “He enjoyed immunity from the chaotic land reform as he was close to Mugabe as he was looking after his (Mugabe’s) in-laws that he supported with all farming expertise,’’ said a senior Zanu PF source speaking on condition that he is not named.

    Hobbs and his family, despite having an offer letter, woke up on Thursday to a team from the Sheriff’s Office accompanied by armed police officers to enforce the eviction order.

    A removal truck was ready to ferry the farmer’s household furniture, while tractors and other farm implements were removed from the premises.

    We do not learn from history and so keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again!

    First They Came
    Pastor Martin Niemoller
    First they came for the Communists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Communist
    Then they came for the Socialists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Socialist
    Then they came for the trade unionists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a trade unionist
    Then they came for the Jews
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Jew
    Then they came for me
    And there was no one left
    To speak out for me.

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  11. The regime’s penchant for opaque deals dates back to when Mnangagwa took over the reins of government from veteran leader Robert Mugabe.
    In August, Mnangagwa unilaterally awarded British-registered Coven Energy Limited a US$1.3 billion deal to build Zimbabwe’s second fuel pipeline.
    Notwistanding revelations that the company was incorporated on 25 August last year, with assets amounting to £100, the government went ahead to announce Coven as the winning bid for a tender that was not announced.
    There is growing belief that the company was formed specifically to be awarded the deal.

    During the start of his tenure, Mnangagwa claimed he had clinched US$11 billion worth of business commitments, the bulk of which were murky deals, spearheaded by dodgy characters.
    Some of the deals Mnangagwa clinched in the “New Dispensation” involve controversial business characters, including Zunaid Moti, Lucas Pouroulis and Jacco Immink.
    In 2018, Moti reportedly invested US$300 million to set up a chrome extraction and processing plant in Zimbabwe along the mineral-rich Great Dyke.
    During that time, Moti was arrested in Germany on charges that he defrauded his former business partner Alibek Issaev an estimated US$35 million in a sham mining deal in Lebanon in 2013.

    In June that year, Mnangagwa’s crony Pouroulis signed a controversial US$4.2 billion deal with the government, paving way for his investment vehicle, Karo Resources, to grab mineral claims stretching over 23 903 hectares previously held by Zimplats along the Great Dyke.
    The US$4.2 billion cost had been plucked out of thin air, raising questions over the value of the investment. The Pouroulis family holds a 42% stake in Tharisa Plc, which has managed to mobilise only US$8 million for the implementation of the platinum project.
    In 2005, Pouroulis made a fortune after acquiring South Africa’s Impala Platinum subsidiary Elandsfontein Platinum Project for US$15 million, before selling it two years later for US$1.1 billion to Xstrata in a speculative deal.
    Karo Resources is a company registered in Cyprus and Guernsey, a tax haven blacklisted by the European Union.
    Again, that year, an obscure South African company, Nkosikhona Holdings, signed a massive US$5.2 billion deal with the government to transform coal into fuel, before cashing in on the mineral resource after roping in Canadian consortium Magcor International to implement the project.
    The South African company, which was registered in 2013 and has a questionable track record, signed the deal with the government through Verify Engineering (Private) Limited — an agent of the Higher Education ministry — in May.

    Mnangagwa’s flirtation with controversial businessmen and companies also continued in 2019, with the government misleading the nation that a “British beef giant” Boustead (Pvt) Ltd would inject US$130 million towards the revival of the Cold Storage Company (CSC).

    It is not only the financial loses that the nation should be concerned about arising from Mnangagwa’s penchant to make these dodgy deals; these corrupt activities raise billions of dollars, money that is then used to bankroll the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut. Zanu PF is able to raise billions of from the country’s rampant corruption compared to the few thousand of dollar the opposition can muster.

    Of course, most of the people involved in the wholesale looting of Zimbabwe’s resources will happily bankroll Zanu PF’s political campaign because they know they would be out of business if the opposition was to get into power. Zimbabwe elections are rigged in favour of the ruling Zanu PF party from the financial consideration alone before taking other things.

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  12. Ramaphosa's ineptitude expresses itself most profoundly in the very areas he promised the nation would define his presidency – the economy, job creation, sorting out the mess in both Eskom and the South African Airways, corruption-busting and the handling of Covid-19 pandemic.

    The economy has gone on a downward spiral. The outlook remains bleak. Unemployment has rocketed. Youth unemployment worsened to 74.7%. Eskom seems to be crumbling fast. Reports indicate that, in just one year, Eskom used 130% more fuel oil than anticipated for coal-fired power stations and "power stations tripped 711 times over the past year – 72% more than the previous year".

    For his part, Tony Leon, the former leader of the DA aptly describes Ramaphosa's leadership on the economy as just "big talk but it's all fantasy economics … (and despite] the fanciful promises, on Cyril Ramaphosa's watch, debt service costs and public service wage bill now gobble up 79c of every tax rand."(Business Day, May 27, 2021).

    If the outcome of the local government elections is anything to go by, it would seem that the electorate is no longer buying into Ramaphosa's big talk. Indeed, no amount of spin-doctoring by embedded journalists can save Ramaphosa.

    Nelson Mandela’s greatest legacy was making sure SA had a healthy and functioning democratic system in which the country has been able to uphold and guarantee the single most important right even a citizen can have – the right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country.
    There is no denying that Cyril Ramaphosa has been a great disappointment to SA and the region as a whole. When the nation has looked to him to provide leadership, he has failed to provide it. The beauty with SA being a healthy democracy is that the people will have their say come elections. In Zimbabwe the nation has never ever held free, fair and credible elections and so the nation has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 41 years and counting.
    Zimbabwe has had many opportunities, the best coming during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC leaders sold out and failed to implement even one reform in GNU and, worse still, have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

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  13. Mandaza said while the Zimbabwean opposition has been rejuvenated by the Zambian elections, where President Hakainde Hichilema replaced Edgar Lungu in a smooth transfer of power, there must be a strategy to curb electoral theft. He was speaking at a conference organised by the Zimbabwe Democratic Institute in Harare this week.
    “Facing elections in 2023 is not a trivial task for Zimbabweans, no matter how encouraging the results from elections in Malawi and Zambia. Thus, we must be able to see where the problems are in detail and have a strategy to overcome these, or at least be able to describe them in sufficient detail to foster strong international pressure for the needed reforms. Failing this, the exposure must be sufficient to call the election unfree and unfair prior to the poll, and pose an alternative to accepting another illegitimate election in Zimbabwe,” Mandaza said.
    Dr Mandaza is right there is need a strategy to curb electoral theft. The cold reality is the opposition has no such strategy. None! The only thing MDC has been doing is grandstanding and posturing pretending the party has “winning in rigged elections strategies” designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.
    “MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections!” Chamisa boasted. We all know that was just hot air. He is claiming the similar things again for the 2023 elections.
    MDC has claimed it will have 6 million new registered voters for the 2023 elections. ZEC has just announced that a total of 200 000 registered to vote in the last year. Many believe the true figure is round 2 000, given ZEC reported 6 and 26 had registered in the whole of Masvingo province for May and June 2021! It appears MDC’s strategy of voting in numbers and protecting the vote is already dead in the water!
    SADC advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, the only sure way to ensure free, fair and credible elections. When SADC leaders realised that no reforms had been implemented they argued MDC not to participate in the elections without reforms but their wise words fell on deaf ears.
    By participating in flawed elections, all MDC have done is give Zanu PF legitimacy and this madness must now be stopped!

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  14. THE armed robbery menace is spiralling out of control as brazen criminals raid homes, shops and mines, with terrified citizens forlornly remarking that such crimes were very rare in bygone days.
    Violent crimes involving firearms were so unusual that they would invariably make it to the front pages of newspapers. Even machete attacks elicited screaming headlines back in the day.
    How life has changed!
    Not only is there a glut of unlicensed guns in this country these days, but the profile of the average criminal has also changed in general.
    While armed robbers in the past used to consist, in the main, of lumpen elements from society’s ugly underbelly, today’s gunslinging criminals include soldiers, police officers and university graduates.

    There are two things that can be said about the armed robbery menace:

    1) That is related and fuelled by the country’s worsening economic situations

    2) The menace will only go away if people finally address the underlying problem of rigged elections and bad governance which is the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess!

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