Zimbabwe Workers Paid in U.S. Dollars

Sherri Siegele

With focus on the recent appointment of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a candid interview is conducted between a professional Zimbabwe woman and the BBC. The woman’s identity is kept secret and her code-name is Esther.

With its inflation rate of 10 sextillion per cent, Tsvangirai announced that Zimbabwe will not adopt the South African rand as its currency rather it is taking a multi-currency approach. More importantly, Tsvangirai has already begun paying soldiers and civil service workers in U.S. dollars in his first attempt to begin rebuilding the economy. He estimates the rebuild will cost $5b. He is looking to direct foreign investment but investors remain leery due to conflicting policy signals.

Esther reports that as a result of workers being paid in U.S. dollars, supplies are beginning to hit store shelves for the first time in ages, food prices have begun to drop, garbage is being picked up for the first time in months, water is flowing without interruption, some companies are beginning to pay employees in forex, and a sense of hope is running through its capital city of Harare. She also reports that in a situation like theirs (Zimbabwe’s), people make a choice whether to live or die. If they choose life then they adapt to their surroundings, make the best of it, and try living life as normally as possible. At the same time, some 80,000 people have cholera of which nearly 4,000 have died, President Mugabe is throwing himself a lavish birthday party with tax-payers money, hospitals are not functioning, torture camps are all around, farm land remains feral, and the nominee for deputy agriculture minister remains in jail where not only his cell-mate but many prisoners have died of starvation. Back to the good news, it’s only been a couple of weeks since Tsvangirai was sworn in and it appears that progress is being made.