by Tonderayi Mukeredzi, Zimbabwe, January 1998
THEME = ECONOMY
What happens when a country's economy
gets into difficulties
and when strikes, street demonstrations and the like become the
order of the day?
This was Zimbabwe's experience during the second half of 1997
1997 will go down in the annals of Zimbabwe's history as a year of turmoil. Strikes dogged the industrial sector and the general public took to the streets whenever they wanted to press their demands. Employers lost thousands of dollars worth of property, as workers violently registered their disgruntlement towards present salary structures. The political atmosphere reached boiling point.
The Zimbabwe dollar plummeted vis à vis other currencies. Why was this? Some people blamed it on waning investor confidence. Others said it must have been an attempt by "certain elements" to sabotage the government as a reaction to the land designation programme. (White farmers were warned that they would have to leave their land which is to handed over to the landless peasants). The War veterans also came under scrutiny because of their demands. All this triggered off a rise in sales' tax and the duty on fuel, an increase in the cost of electricity and the introduction of a 5% levy deductible from every worker's salary - an extremely unpopular move with the workers which provoked Zimbabwe's biggest-ever work stoppage. An angry worker said: "I earn close to nothing and recently we were given a 10% salary adjustment. But look what's happened. 5% is already being channelled away to pay off the war veterans".
On 9 December 1997, workers went on strike almost everywhere. Irate workers said they "were tired of the government deducting the peanuts they earn". They said: The government must find other ways to raise money, or deduct it from ministers' salary "which are too high in any case!" Outside Harare, the strikes passed off peacefully. Within the capital, mayhem reigned supreme, with the city resembling a battlefield. Buildings were destroyed, broken glass was everywhere, running battles took place between police and population, cars were overturned and set on fire, motorists were stoned and shops pillaged. Workers and employers were together in protesting the unjust introduction of the 5% levy on the workers. Employers, most of them white, supported the strike, driving workers into town and giving them the day off to ensure effective participation in the industrial action. The employers said they were disappointed in the government's action, because they too were "losing out" through high taxation.
The next day, the government announced it was scrapping the increased duty on fuel and the increase in electricity prices, but the sales tax on most goods must remain.
And what about the war veterans? These former freedom fighters were furious because senior government officials and their families had been found with their hands in the till of the war veterans fund. The government said it had to raise Z$ 2.6 billion to pay the Z$50,000 guaranteed to each war veteran plus a regular Z$2,000 each month.
Maybe there is one positive note to be sounded. It seems that workers and the general public are increasingly becoming aware of their fundamental rights.
END
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement