22 November 2008
Gweru — Civil servants' dreams of owning houses through stands acquired under operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle are fast diminishing as the ministry that offered them stands is demanding foreign currency in monthly instalments.
While dollarisation has taken firm root in Zimbabwe, civil servants are crying foul over demands that payment for the stands is now required in foreign currency.
Civil servants who have been paying for the stands since 2006 expressed outrage over the introduction of the foreign currency payment scheme. The beneficiaries pay for the stands on a monthly basis to the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development.
They told this reporter that they were shocked when told to pay for the stands in foreign currency. One of the beneficiaries, who only identified himself as Thomas for fear of losing the stand, said: "For civil servants who got stands under Garikai, we started paying in rands in September. We paid R50 rands on top of Z$500, then for October we paid R50 again and Z$20 000."
He said payment for the stands in foreign currency was shocking, especially at a time when most civil servants were earning below Z$90 000, which buys less than R5.
Another civil servant, a policewoman who preferred to remain anonymous, said what incensed them most was the fact that for the October payment in rands, the receipts recorded payment in the form of a five-litre coupon. They had received no explanation, she said.
The civil servants also complained that they had been paying for the stands for too long. They claimed that they were advised time and again that the money was for servicing the stands, but not much had actually been done on the ground.
A visit to the offices of the Ministry of Local Government confirmed that those who were paying for stands under different schemes were now paying in foreign currency and that these included the beneficiaries of Operation Garikai.
There was another scheme, Hertfordshire housing, where those allocated stands were paying R200, which most of the beneficiaries indicated was a lot of money though the scheme was open to everyone.
Sources, who spoke to this reporter, said while they appreciated the depreciation of the local currency, payment of stands in foreign currency was leaving them strained. Their desire to own houses was driving them to soldier on, but they indicated that some of their colleagues had lost their stands after failure to pay the required foreign currency.
Efforts to get official comment from the Ministry of Local Government were fruitless but a worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that beneficiaries of Operation Garikai and other housing schemes were paying the subscriptions in foreign currency due to the hyper-inflationary environment.
The worker also explained that the payment in rands was approved by beneficiaries during consultative meetings. He said beneficiaries who were complaining had chosen not to attend the consultative meetings where decisions made were binding.
Operation Garikai was introduced after Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, which saw the demolition of thousands of houses that left nearly one million families without a roof over their heads.
Operation Garikai was meant to counter Operation Murambatsvina, which courted the ire of the international community.Due to the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy, banks which used to offer loans to those that wanted to build houses no longer offer such services. Even companies that used to extend loans to their workers to purchase houses no longer do so and this has left a majority of workers as lodgers.
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