WITH civil servants on strike over pay and working conditions, Zimbabwe Independent reporter Elias Mambo (EM) spoke to Finance minister Tendai Biti (TB) in the capital on Tuesday about issues concerning civil servants, Copac, the GPA and elections.

EM: First and foremost, concerning the civil servants' industrial action, President Robert Mugabe has accused you as Finance minister of sabotaging the government by refusing to pay civil servants well.

TB: That's not true, when did he say that? There is no need for politicising the whole issue. The fact is the country is in a difficult fiscal position and I made it very clear in the 2012 budget which I presented on November 26 that 67% of resources are going towards wages. We have to balance between wage demands and other obligations such as education, agriculture, health and social welfare.

This economy has been ravaged by 31 years of financial (and) economic mismanagement and cannot be turned around in 20 months. That is why it is important to have a social dialogue so that every party in Zimbabwe accepts and appreciates our difficult fiscal position.

EM: In other words, you are saying there is no money to pay civil servants. How about using revenue from the sale of diamonds?

TB: The issue of diamonds has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. In 2011 we only got less than US$80 million and that is not good enough given our current situation.

EM: Is it not that a lot of money is being wasted on paying the 75 000 ghost workers?

TB: The (civil servants) audit meant to weed out ghost workers was completed last year, but the report has been blocked by cabinet.

EM: On the diamonds issue, we understand you wrote a letter to the United States government castigating it on the sanctions imposed on Marange Resources and Mbada Diamonds.

TB: That's not true. Which newspaper produced that letter? You should have brought that newspaper. I am not going to answer on that issue, we do not comment on hearsay. Do not generalise issues. These are uncontested facts. I am a lawyer and I cannot use my comment to legitimise facts that are wrong.

EM: On the Sadc election roadmap, it seems everything is quiet. There is no implementation of reforms and the principals in the inclusive government are also quiet. What is the position?

TB: You are right. The democratic reform agenda has gone into the intensive care unit. It requires massive surgery and curative, as opposed to palliative, solutions. The government of national unity has failed to implement agreed positions. About 50% of the agreed reforms have never been implemented. At the Maputo Sadc troika summit of November 5 2009, we agreed on 24 issues out of 29 issues and none of the issues were implemented. That's a disaster. These issues include media reform, electoral reforms.

Where we have an arrested development then we have a reversal of all the gains of the inclusive government. What is needed is for the parties involved to restart with energy the engagement process. Sadc should re-energise the dialogue process and it should include implementation of agreed issues such as appointing a three-person committee to work with Jomic. If we don't do that, then we are heading for disaster.

We are heading for a catastrophic point of no return and this means the next election will be critical. The next election will be imperative. It will be as important as the 1980 election. It's either we end the crisis or prolong it. I do not want to prolong it and the people of Zimbabwe do not want to prolong it.

EM: How then are we going to stop this crisis given the fact that the constitution process seems to have failed. What will happen next?

TB: I have no doubt that we will have a constitution before the end of 2012. Yes, the process has been slow and difficult; the process has been hijacked by partisan interests and arrested by Zanu PF's incompetence and intransigence, but it will limp along, that I can assure you. It will limp along to a constitution and a referendum. What I can assure you is that there will be a constitution by the end of the year.

EM: Given that the constitution issue is done, but electoral, media and security reforms remain a thorn in the flesh -- elections or no elections?

TB: That's an absolute no. No elections without the implementation of the agreed reforms. After the constitution, we must have a referendum so that the people of Zimbabwe may be given an opportunity to accept or reject it. There is also the issue of the delimitation of boundaries, agreement on security sector reforms, media reforms and electoral reforms. We also need to prepare a brand new voters roll. We have a lot of things that need to be done given our history of indifference. It is impossible to complete everything before the end of 2012.