As Zimbabwe reels under a world-record inflation of 1 042,9%, many are forsaking meals and walking or cycling for scores of kilometres to work every day in a tortuous battle to survive.
When the clock strikes one, John Mafose joins others filing out of factories in the Graniteside industrial area on Harare’s southern fringes to a plot where workers gather during the lunch break to while away time.
Mafose (58) goes to an open area and lies on his empty belly to take a nap.
“We come here to spend the lunch hour, it has become our way of life,” Mafose, who works in a furniture factory, told Agence France-Presse, as he rises to return to work.
“We have jobs but the majority of us can no longer afford to feed the body that works. If I were to count how many workers can still afford to buy lunch, I would say three out of ten,” he said.
More often than not, when the factory siren sounds to signal the end of the lunch hour workers return to their stations on empty stomachs.
According to a recent report by aid groups, families are resorting to skipping lunch or breakfast.
And people who would normally bus to work are now walking or cycling. Reason Mutawu (36) cycles nearly 55km a day to work and back as he cannot afford the bus fare of Zim$140Â 000 ($1,4) per trip.
“When I started cycling work early last year, things were beginning to get tight but not as tight as they are now,” said the father of three who works for a beverage manufacturer.
“The bus fare had just gone from five to seven dollars and I felt it was too much. Now it’s more then ten times higher and more people are cycling.”
To supplement his income, Mutawu covertly sells vegetables on the streets during weekends, often playing a cat-and-mouse game with the police as street vending has been outlawed since last year as part of a controversial urban clean-up drive.
Mutawu cannot remember when he last had savings in the bank. “Even if I had money to spare, I would not take it to the bank because by the time you make a withdrawal it will not buy as much as it would have bought.”
“What’s happening because of the hyperinflationary environment is that people’s disposable income is not enough to get them basics let alone savings,” Best Doro, an economist with a banking group said.
“The majority are literally living from hand to mouth. Not many families are able to save these days. Although I cannot give figures I can say there are not that many who are still able to put aside savings.”
An average family of six needs at least Zim$41-million ($405) for food to last a month, according to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) but the average worker earns Zim$14-million.
Collin Gwiyo, deputy secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said the plight of the workers would only be alleviated if employers increase salaries every month.
“Our view is that employers should adjust salaries every month as opposed to after six months,” Gwiyo said.
“With four-digit inflation for many people life has become a daily struggle. Things are tough for workers and for pensioners whose pay is not inflation-adjusted, even worse.”
Zimbabwe is going through the seventh year of economic recession characterised by four-digit inflation, shortages of basic foodstuffs while at least 80% of the population lives below the poverty threshold.
President Robert Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, blames the country’s woes on Western countries such as Britain and the United States which he accuses of plotting to bring about his downfall. – AFP