Harare — Both houses of Parliament did not sit this past week and so today I will start by looking at the 2010 National Budget set to be presented on Wednesday and will obviously be the highlight of the coming week.

The nation is awash with expectations that Finance Minister Tendai Biti will deliver a budget that will consolidate the measure of stability currently obtaining in the country and improve livelihoods.

Minister Biti has said the 2010 budget will be growth-oriented given the stability that was achieved by the cash budgeting.

Expectations from various quarters on the budget are high given the number of challenges the country has faced in the past 10 years.

In separate interviews, the main labour bodies stressed the importance of allocating more resources to social ministries given the general decline in social services caused by under-funding that came as direct consequence of the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

The sanctions resulted in the cutting off of funding from multilateral financial institutions to the detriment of service delivery.

Both the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions agreed that health and education needed urgent attention given the problems they encountered in the past few years.

A significant number of children failed to register for their public examinations due to the prohibitive costs and it is therefore of paramount importance that resources and other safety nets be provided for the vulnerable groups that cannot afford to pay the required fees.

The same applies to health where public medical institutions are struggling to acquire basic drugs and equipment.

Last month officials from the National Pharmaceutical Company told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health of the challenges they were facing, stating they had approximately only 40 percent of critical drugs in stock

This, therefore, calls for more resources to be channelled towards the health sector.

However, while it is important to look at the above-mentioned sectors it is ultimately the revival of the productive sectors that would provide a firm foundation for sustainable development.

Minister Biti therefore has a big task in ensuring that policies that encourage growth of industry for employment creation are put in place.

The starting point is ensuring that there is proper financing for agriculture.

It is not in dispute that agriculture is the backbone of industry and at its peak provides 60 percent of raw materials for the manufacturing sector.

It is critical and in the national interest that this vital sector gets the attention that it deserves and the nation will be keenly watching to see what Minister Biti will do on this front.

The 2009/2010 season has already started in earnest but what support has been given to farmers?

Minister Biti on a number of occasions this past year kept promising support for the sector but nothing has really materialised and his commitment to economic turnaround and development will be tested by the kind of budget he presents next week and how he treats agriculture.

Lastly on the issue of the budget, workers are waiting with bated breath on what Minister Biti will set as tax free thresholds on bonuses given that the festive season is around the corner.

More importantly, what indicators will there be in his budget statement that the welfare of public servants will be improved over the coming year?

Next week the focus will naturally be a review of what Minister Biti will have presented.

In the committees

The committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare met with officials from both the ZCTU and ZFTU.

While they both expressed discontent with the manner in which most employers deal with workers' grievances - especially those that have been retrenched - it is the continued politicisation of labour issues that is of great concern.

The ZFTU said Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa was sidelining them when handling worker-related matters.

Through its president, Mr Jacob Gwavava, ZFTU accused some employers of victimising workers that join their organisation because it is perceived to be pro-Zanu-PF while ZCTU has openly aligned itself with MDC-T.

This kind of politicking does not augur well for the welfare of the generality of workers given that it is their constitutional right to belong to a labour body of their choice.

What this will cause is a waste of time by the unions fighting political battles instead of concentrating on addressing workers' grievances.

The situation is bad enough as it is without the minister being seen to be taking political sides in the matter.

Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr David Chaota told the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communication that British Airways will resume flights into the country between March and April next year.

The company withdrew from the country in September 2007 citing viability problems.

Other airlines like Qantas and Lufthansa from Australia and Germany respectively pulled out at the height of the diplomatic dispute between Zimbabwe and the West after Britain tried to internationalise its differences with Harare over the land reform programme.

The politics aside the move by the British is welcome given the drive by Government to restore Zimbabwe as a tourist destination of choice and the 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.

Sadc is expecting an influx of visitors from across the globe during the soccer showcase, the second largest sporting event after the Olympics, and as a country we should not be left behind in benefiting from the month-long event.

These developments, however, call for the speedy refurbishment of major airports and once again we hope Minister Biti will also give due recognition to this process that has also been under-funded for a long time when he presents his budget.

That sanctions have caused untold damage to the country is no longer in dispute and only the very naïve or the extremely ignorant will question their existence.

The sanctions have affected civil aviation as much as they have affected agriculture.

Farmers' organisations, especially the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union and the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union, told the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement that they were failing to access markets in Europe for their horticultural produce because of the trade embargo imposed on the country.

Because of that Zimbabwe is losing a lot of potential. revenue from the embargo.

This is just one of the many examples of how Zimbabwe has suffered from the retrogressive attitude adopted by the Western countries.

Mr Chaota narrated how CAAZ is failing to access spares and equipment from their traditional suppliers because of the sanctions.

President Mugabe on Wednesday officially opened the 26th Plenary Session of the Sadc Parliamentary Forum in Victoria Falls and expressed Zimbabwe's support for the establishment of full regional legislative organ with commensurate authority.

Such initiatives are welcome as Sadc moves on with further integration and removal of barriers that prevent people in the region from cooperating fully without unnecessary hindrances.

The President said Zimbabwe deeply valued Sadc solidarity and that the initiative will provide a platform for further strengthening of regional ties.

At the same plenary, women bemoaned the continuous decline of female representation in the echelons of power.

While Sadc and the AU have set quotas for women representation these have not been met and we call on the powers that be to turn their words into action and ensure that more women are afforded the opportunity to lead.

Perhaps it is time our politicians explained to us why it is that while they come up with more and more packages to empower women, the "fairer sex" seems to be getting increasingly marginalised.

The plenary session that will end today has provided another opportunity for the country to showcase its tourist attractions and we hope our brothers from Sadc will be ambassadors of the country facilities.

A number of people have sent their suggestions on improving the column and in future instalments, we will try to attend to some of the observations raised.