OPINION: Does Mthuli Ncube Live In Zimbabwe?

A columnist writing for The Standard has said that Mthuli Ncube’s solutions to our woes were actually making our economic situation worse. Mthuli’s measures left the editor questioning if the learned professor actually lived in Zimbabwe which is ground zero for the economic meltdown being experienced right now.

It is now a year since the elections, and Ncube’s approach to what he calls belt-tightening, has moved me an incontrovertible conclusion: that the brother does not live in Zimbabwe.

That he has never secured a ride in a kombi, and that he is unaware of the quiet desperation the majority of our people live under. Ncube’s measures exacerbate the suffering rather than alleviate them.

First, the brother has no idea of the income lay-out of the general population of Zimbabwe. At the maximum, only 15% of the able-bodied population is in- formal employment. In an African society, teachers, civil servants and para-military types form the middle class, about 80% of the income earning population.

This class earns between U$400 and U$500 per month. An African family serves no less than six people. Under the old system, with supplements from small gardens and corn harvests (maize) from the village, they barely eked an existence. By devaluing the mythical U$-Z$ relationship in one swoop, the U$500 per month became Z$50, a tenth of its original value.

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After five years of using the US dollar, Zimbabweans know the value of that currency and no matter how hard Ncube tries, all currencies are measured on the threshold of the US dollar.

But the issue of tollgate fees can only have come from somebody who has never been on Zimbabwe roads…..kombi driver pays road service taxes and vehicle inspection fees as well. He also spends at least five hours a week on petrol queues during which time his kombi is out of service.A simple observation of the windscreens shows that half the kombis have to do with broken windscreens because of broken tarred roads. Any increase in toll fees, petrol and vehicle inspection fees is to wish these hardworking souls bankruptcy.They are daily on the verge of bankruptcy.

It was once suggested to me that Brother Ncube rushes to the implementation stage before a trial run and I pleaded on his behalf. I am afraid that the brother has lived in the corridors of learning for too long-and common sense has departed from his medula oblongata.

More: The Standard