Published by the government of Zimbabwe
21 November 2008
editorial
Harare — THE prevailing hyper-inflationary environment has not only severely eroded incomes, but the withholding of fully-paid for banknote paper by Germany and that country's refusal to supply spare parts for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's printing presses, as part of the illegal Western sanctions, has constrained money supply.
This liquidity crunch has seen many workers not only waste valuable hours in bank queues, but also fail to access their salaries from the banks.
Even when they manage to do so, account holders are required to withdraw a paltry $500 000, which is probably enough for a one-way kombi fare into town.
What this effectively means is that though workers, on paper, are getting paid, in practice they are not as they cannot access their salaries locked in banks, salaries which lose value, if not by the day, then by the hour due to the ravages of hyperinflation.
It is a fact that, in the prevailing economic environment, cash in hand is several hundreds of times more valuable than cash in the bank.
This is why some shops had three-tier pricing systems, the lowest being for cash, next being the cheque rate which was, on average, 10 times higher, after which came the RTGS rate, which was several hundreds of times higher than the cash price.
Today, many service providers demand payment in cash.
What this all means is that workers would benefit more from their salaries, if they received them on time and in the form of liquid cash, than meaningless figures locked up in banks.
To this end, we salute those innovative companies and employers who have devised non-monetary ways of remunerating employees.
As we reported in yesterday's issue, workers in some companies and non-governmental organisations are now receiving part of their salaries in the form of food hampers, fuel coupons, foreign currency and hard cash, among other things.
And as we report elsewhere in this issue, Government will, with effect from this month, give health workers food hampers on top of a salary increment as a way of cushioning them.
The interventions will also ensure that workers spend more time at their stations than in bank queues and shops looking for scarce commodities.
On top of the hampers, the workers will also be provided with transport to and from work following the release of 34 buses by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
These initiatives are bound to go a long way in motivating health workers to give their best knowing that their services are valued.
We hope all other companies, particularly those that handle cash on a daily basis, will follow suit.
Even though they may not meet all their employees' needs, the fact that the company will have at least thought about the welfare of workers will bring a smile on many an employee's face.
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