Johannesburg — Zimbabwe's economic implosion has left the country's ordinary folk clinging to an ever-worsening standard of living

'It's dramatic how life has changed for us in Zimbabwe. I have nothing to show for working and if things continue at this rate, our children have no hope'

IN 2000, Stanley Chirume, a primary school teacher from Budiriro township outside Harare, was earning Z8 000 (about R1 333) a month. Today he earns Z3.6-million - but that translates to only about R1 200.

With his old salary, he could afford to rent a three-bedroom house in the township at a monthly rental of Z1 200 (about R200).

Then, minibus taxis charged Z20 a trip from the township to the city.

His three children were all in boarding school, where fees were Z2 500 for each of the year's three terms.

He used to buy his three children new clothing for Christmas. But that all stopped in 2002 when the rising cost of living ate into his earnings.

He used to take his family to his rural home twice a year, for Easter and Christmas - but not any more.

Bus fares to his rural home in Zvisha vane, about 450km south of Harare, now cost him Z280 000 a person. In 2000, the fare was Z300.

"It's dramatic how life has changed for us in Zimbabwe. I have nothing to show for working, and if things continue at this rate, our children have no hope.

"I had bought a stand for just Z40 000 in 1998 in Budiriro, hoping that one day I would be able to build a house for my family, but things took a twist when my net income continued to decrease. In the end I had no choice but to sell that stand in 2001 because I could no longer afford the high council rates for that piece of land.

"Things just suddenly changed and we had to move to a smaller house.

"Now we can't even afford to have a decent breakfast, let alone eat out, something I used to treat my family to once in a while," Chirume said.

Today, with his salary in the millions of dollars, he has downgraded from the three-bedroom house he was renting, to one with only one bedroom.

Half his salary goes on the monthly rental. The rest takes care of transport and his three children's school fees, leaving very little for food.

Boarding fees at a government school are about Z6-million a term (about R2 222).

"My wife is also a teacher, but still our combined salaries can't cater for our needs. After paying school fees for our three children, we are left with nothing because what remains goes towards transport for the five of us, leaving very little for food. Worse still, most basic foodstuffs are in short supply, forcing us to buy anything available, which in most cases is expensive.

"We are just barely surviving and you can imagine how it is for single parents. Things are real tough now," said Chirume.

The shelves of leading retailers, OK Zimbabwe and TM Supermarkets, have no bread, maize meal or sugar.

Bread, when available, costs Z8 000; a bag of sugar costs Z30 000 on the black market - it's not available in the shops. Maize meal costs Z40 000 for 10kg. Half a dozen eggs cost Z16 500, two litres of milk go for Z44 500.

Spiralling inflation, currently pegged just above 164%, continues to erode workers' real income as wage increases have been below inflation.

Low-income earners such as teachers, policemen, nurses and the general civil service are hard hit by the erratic economic performance.

Unskilled workers are even worse off.

Most Zimbabweans are lodgers and the average monthly rental for a two-bedroom flat is between Z3-million (R1 111) and Z8-million (R2 963).

Rentals in Harare's townships went up threefold in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina, making it expensive for low-income earners.

Supermarket worker Rosemary Shoko, who earns Z1.2-million (R444) pays Z750 000 (R277) as monthly rental for the single room she shares with her teenage daughter in Warren Park, another township in Harare.

"I sometimes walk to work because I simply run out of money. Transport is just too expensive for me, so I have to wake up early to walk to work if I have to save enough to keep my daughter in school.

"I am lucky in that I work in a supermarket, so I get some of the basic goods like bread and maize meal when we do get deliveries, which is basically what I survive on because I can't afford anything else," Shoko said.

The economic and social morass most ordinary Zimbabweans find themselves in was precipitated by a recession and energy crisis that started taking shape in 1997.

That year, well-connected government officials claimed massive benefits from the War Victims Compensation Fund that had been set up by government for veterans of the liberation struggle.

Senior government officials, including President Robert Mugabe's brother-in-law and government ministers, claimed 90% war disability.

Veterans, took to the streets, threatening to evict Mugabe from State House unless they received their money.

Mugabe then ordered the treasury to release Z4-billion (then about R2-billion) to the veterans.

Within hours of the treasury releasing the money, the local currency crashed from its decade-steady rate against the US dollar of Z8-US1, to Z38-US1.

The currency's freefall and economic meltdown continued unabated and was further exacerbated by land grabs that started in 2000, scaring international markets.

Foreign exchange markets suspended trading and investors in the fragile economy began to flee in droves.

Food shortages arose, unemployment began to rise, thousands of professionals abandoned the country for better opportunities elsewhere, and suddenly desperation had become a part of life in Zimbabwe.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says a low-income urban earner with a family of six requires Z5.5-million a month to survive.

The council's Tonderai Mukeredzi said this would cater just for basic foodstuffs, transport costs, health, education and a three-room rental house.

Mukeredzi said most families were battling to survive because the minimum wage was between Z800 000 and $1.2-million.

"It has become difficult for most families to pull through a month. Basic foodstuffs are out of reach for most families because they earn very little.

"A person, on average, has to budget about Z330 000 a month for transport, and Z500 000 a month for school fees.

"We hope the selling of fuel in foreign currency will improve its availability and ease transport shortages, but again there is a danger that it might increase transport costs as it is difficult to source foreign exchange," said Mukeredzi.

Fuel is sold for US1 a litre at designated garages. The demand for US dollars has sent the parallel or black market spiralling out of control.

A US dollar fetches Z40 000, while the rand is Z6 000 on the parallel market.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe-controlled foreign exchange auction floor pegs the US dollar at Z17 000 and the rand at Z2 700.

Getting foreign currency from the central bank's auction floor is cumbersome.

Those wanting to buy apply for the right to bid for the foreign exchange through their bank, and only when the central bank approves the application do they then go to the auction floors.

This leads most people to go to the black market, where prices are negotiated and the hassles of paperwork are not an issue.

Kingdom Financial Holdings economist Witness Chinyama said food prices were too high and wage increases were lagging behind inflation.

He said the unavailability of foreign currency had worsened the situation because most companies sourced it on the parallel market, where it is expensive, and then passed it on to the consumers.

"Because of the poor harvest, the cost of most agro-based commodities will continue to rise despite the fact that it's already too expensive for most people.

"We have to wait for the next harvest in April to see if the food situation will improve," said Chinyama.

He said the selling of fuel in foreign currency was a way of formalising the black market economy, but was not enough to improve the country's forex shortages.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Pattison Sithole said selling fuel in foreign currency alone was not enough to address the forex shortages and more needed to be done to generate resources.

"It will help to some extent, but it will not solve the situation. We need to mobilise international support and attract foreign direct investment to increase inflow of resources," said Sithole.

The World Bank recently said Zimbabwe's economy was declining at an alarming rate for a country not at war.

It said GDP had shrunk by more than 20% since 2000, while agriculture registered an accumulative decline of 26%.

To economists and other analysts, it's all a jumble of figures - but to the likes of Chirume and Shoko, and millions of their compatriots, the implosion is real and present.

They feel it every time they have to decide whether to buy a loaf of bread, or take a taxi to work.