Zimbabwe to soldier on with local currency though it is under attack 

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, couch that in a question.

HON. BITI:  My question to the Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development, through the leader of the House is that with the cost of living rising exponentially, with the exchange rate depreciating, the parallel market rate is now close to 300, what are you doing to the plight of civil servants, teachers, nurses, doctors, judges, magistrates, bus drivers, Speaker of Parliament, Clerk of Parliament, staff at Parliament, Members of Parliament who continue to have their salaries being eroded by the rambunctious inflation and the depreciation of the Zimbabwean dollar?  Why do you not just dollarise the salary of the Speaker, the Clerk, civil servants, teachers, doctors and nurses?  I thank you very much Hon. Speaker Sir.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order Hon. Member, there is no need to mention specific people.  Just simply say the public, it is enough.

HON. BITI:  But I was making a case for your salary too.

THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI):  I want to thank the Hon. Member.  Mr. Speaker, it has become a perennial question asked by Hon. Biti every time he has been in this House.  Having said that Mr. Speaker, we are not discontinuing the use of the Zimbabwean dollar.  What we are alive to is that the fundamentals that have to support our dollar are there but because we have a situation in this country whereby we have sanctions and those sanctions directly attack our currency, we will continue with the policies that we are making to ensure that we strengthen our currency and review the salaries of our civil servants.

I am aware that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development has been reviewing the salaries of our civil servants.  He has given allowances in United States dollars to cushion but what we are doing is, we will continue with the use of our dollar.  We will continue to soldier on despite the fact that those that are calling for the return of the United States dollar are the ones that made sure that we suffer so that they can scream on top of their voices.  I thank you.

HON. BITI:  Thank you Hon. Speaker.  The question to the Hon. Minister is, what effective measures are you taking to ensure that the civil servant is decently rewarded in view of the high cost – [HON. TOGAREPI:  Ndiwe wakaisa masanctions acho.] – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – My question to the distinguished and esteemed Minister is, what measures are you taking to effectively cushion the worker, the civil servant against the falling exchange rate and the cost of living that is rising exponentially–[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order!  Can we allow the Hon. Minister to respond – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order, order! Hon. Biti, do you want your question to be answered?  Withdraw!

HON. BITI:  I withdraw Hon. Speaker.

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