Zimbabwe Finance Ministers says suspension of banks loans was a big hammer but it was needed

HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: I wanted to ask the Hon. Minister to zero down to the level where I am, where I represent the ordinary citizen. All this vocabulary the ordinary person cannot understand. What I am merely asking the Hon. Minister with the ordinary citizen in mind is to explain in a manner that the ordinary mbuya back in the rural community and ordinary citizens can understand because the rate keeps going up. Our own ZWD – the brand new notes have flooded the streets and I presume they are coming from our banks which fall under the command of the Ministry of Finance. Where is that money coming from? Is it not controlled? Since last year we have been talking about the exchange rate on the black market and it is not stopping despite the loan arrangement that we have done, it is moving much fast. Now, all Zimbabweans have been reduced to paupers because of that. What is the Ministry doing to at least assist the ordinary citizens? Hon. Minister, you can award salary increments, for example an ordinary teacher earns RTG$32 000, divide that by $400 on the black market because when a teacher goes to the bank he cannot access the USD. He has to go to the streets and ends up holding US$80. The people then think that the Government is not doing much. That is your Ministry Hon. Minister.

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: Hon. Kambizi has highlighted three areas and I tried to decipher what he was talking about. On the civil servants, what he said is not correct, I have to disagree with him. He said that the teacher has no access to USD, which is not correct. The teacher has access to US$175 hard currency. That is exactly what we have done in terms of civil servants’ salary. We have the US$75 which we link to COVID and US$100 which was added at the beginning of the year to make it US$175, so it is not correct to say that the teacher has no access to USD.

On what we are doing about the person around the corner, mbavha, matsotsi – we are arresting and fining them. We have the Financial Intelligence Unit that has got teeth and has been going after these criminals, be they companies, individuals but a thief is a thief even when you have got the best policemen in the world we will always have thieves. It is a continuous project trying to catch criminals when they think they have an opportunity. We have been chasing these people and that is why they run around whenever they see us.

From our own assessment, I think that the person on the street  corner has become less important; the real culprits are now the big players, which players were then dealt with by temporarily suspending lending. That is what is going on; corporates are pushing the rates up through the goods that are sold in the shops. When we deal with prices, we are assisting the common person. When we open up borders and say tengai zvamunoda, surely we are helping the citizen. It cannot be said that Government is not doing anything; no it cannot be the case. We can disagree on degrees of effectiveness or policies but clearly we are taking action. Kana President vakasimuka kuti nhasi I am opening up the transport system and ZUPCO no longer has a monopoly, surely we are helping the citizens. It cannot be that we are helping anyone else other than the citizens.

HON. SEN. KOMICHI: My question to the Minister is: are we not in the same situation as we were in 2007/8 in which our ZWD was so pathetic that it failed to sustain our livelihood? As we stand, the public and civil servants are earning nothing. You disputed that US$80 and added US$175, it then came to US$255, still it is not a reasonable salary for any person to live on. Are you in control of the Government or you have lost it to the cabals?

Continued next page

(346 VIEWS)