- Dear Family and Friends,
-
- We have become a zero society and are struggling to keep
up with all the digits these days. We all look at prices and say to ourselves,
"is that a hundred thousand, or a million, or a billion?" My
calculator has only got a 10 digit display so once I get to 9.9 billion
I'm in trouble. My mind boggled when I sat listening to our 2004 budget
which was all in billions or trillions of dollars and in desperation I
turned to my dictionary to see just how many zeros there are in a "trillion"
dollars. I wrote it down carefully and then counted digits. A trillion
has 12 zeros after it !
-
- Zimbabwe's budget for 2004 lost all credibility for me
in the first half of the first sentence when the Minister of Finance began
his presentation by saying : "Sanctions imposed on the country have
worsened the economic environment..." His statement was interrupted
by jeers, groans and calls of disapproval from the House who know very
well that it is only 79 top government officials who have had sanctions
imposed on them and not the eleven and a half million people of the country.
-
- Before presenting the budget, Finance Minister Murerwa
outlined what can only be described as utter chaos. He talked about the
near collapsed state of virtually every government owned sector and asset
including the airline and airports, railways, mines, schools, hospitals,
grain marketing board, fuel procurement facilities, roads, water, sewage
and government owned buildings. The Minister spoke of "runaway inflation,"
"rampant environmental degradation" and collapsing infrastructure
across the entire country. He told us that inflation would rise to 600%
by Christmas and to 700% by the end of April 2004 and said that this was
not in line with inflation in other Southern African countries whose average
inflation is just 14%. I sat forward in my chair with my pen poised as
the Minister began to outline how he was going to rescue the country from
this unspeakable disaster but didn't write much as I soon discovered that
what he was presenting was a beer, football and strong arm budget.
-
- The second highest amount of our national budget was
allocated to the Ministry of Defence who were given 1.27 trillion dollars.
The Minister's words were met by such roars of disapproval that the Speaker
had to repeatedly call for order in the House and then the sentence had
to be read again. Unbelievably the Minister allocated 1.4 billion dollars
to the country's national football team for their match against Tunisia
and later announced that tax on cigarettes and beer had been reduced. It
seems that the solutions to Zimbabwe's problems are that we can smoke and
drink ourselves to death and watch football on television while being guarded
by well armed police and soldiers. Assuming of course that we can afford
a television which now costs more than a 4 bedroomed house on an acre of
land cost just 2 years ago.
-
- To people outside Zimbabwe, this may all sound quite
amusing but for those of us living here it is a nightmare. Our government
have completely lost the plot. They join our state owned television station
whose motto is "When it happens we will be there." ZBC television
were not there at all this week when 360 trade union leaders, activists
and civic leaders were arrested for trying to protest. ZBC TV did not report
the protest itself, nor the arrests or 3 day detentions of the country's
most highly respected people. Neither the government nor ZBC told us that
the post office workers have been on strike all week, instead they flighted
a new propaganda jingle about land and another for the country's tax collection
authority.
-
- In a strangely absurd way, the 2004 budget for Zimbabwe
gave me hope because now the collapse of the country is crystal clear for
all to see and with that in sight, the end becomes inevitable. I'm off
to see if I can find a policeman to watch me while I have a beer and a
cigarette and watch football! So, from our trillion dollar cloud cuckoo
land,
-
- until next week,
-
- with love, cathy.
-
- Copyright cathy buckle 22nd November 2003.
- <http://africantears.netfirms.comhttp://africantears.netfirms.com
- My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears"
and "Beyond
- Tears" are available from: UK contact
- <mailto:handzup_02@hotmail.comhandzup_02@hotmail.com
; Australia
- and New Zealand:
- <mailto:johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.aujohnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au
- ; Africa: <http://www.kalahari.netwww.kalahari.net
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