Matirasa Muronda
7 June 2008
Harare — The saying that it never rains; it pours, perhaps best captures the current situation in Zimbabwe. Day-to-day existence for most people - save for the few exceptionally rich and those close to the ruling party's top brass - has become a living nightmare, with the prices of goods and services rising by the hour.
As a result, traders are charging for their goods in US dollars or the South African rand. A private butchery that now makes door-to-door deliveries due to the scarcity of good-quality meat, has informed clients it will be charging in rand, arguing that villagers are also demanding foreign currency for their animals.
Petrol and diesel are charged in US dollars, from $1.30 to $1.50 a litre, as are motor-vehicle parts and accessories and rare basic commodities such as cooking oil, washing soap and toothpaste.
Most of these goods are brought in from neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Zambia because local industries have either stopped production or do not produce enough to satisfy demand. Landlords, too, are charging rent in foreign currency, adding to tenants' woes. Lombard Matsika, a supervisor with a Harare firm who is married with three children, says life has become unbearable.
An understatement
"To say things are tough would be an understatement," says the 42-year-old. "I have a young family, with two of my three children in primary school, but my salary is not even enough to feed the family for a day.
"And basic commodities like sugar and cooking oil can only be found on the black market, where traders charge in rand or US dollars. I live in Warren Park (a densely populated area of Harare) and the landlord has told me that from this month, I have to pay rent in rand.
"I rent four rooms, and he wants R150 (Sh1,200) or each room, so I need R600 (Sh4,800) every month, which I cannot afford. I used to pay Z$2 billion per room, but because of the inflation this money has become worthless, hence the landlord's demand that I pay in foreign currency. I don't know where I am going to get the money because my Z$14 billion salary is equivalent to about $11 or R77 (Sh670) at the inter-bank rate.
"Besides, I have to pay school fees for my children and buy food for the family since my wife is not employed," said Matsika." He says he is seriously considering taking his family back to his rural home in Murehwa. In a similar fix is Ennet Mujana, who rents two rooms in Dzivarasekwa, a humble residential Harare suburb. She has been informed that each room will be going for R100 (Sh800) from this month.
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