Shadreck Muponda counts the crumpled notes from his pocket, murmuring to himself and totally oblivious to his surroundings, only to be reminded that he is standing in the middle of the road by a sudden screech of tyres and insults from the driver of the vehicle.
Shaken, but still determined, he finds a bench in the nearby Africa Unity Square Park in the sweltering afternoon heat, where he ponders his next move.
But it is not easy and one can only empathise with Muponda as he tries to work out how to stretch his Z$60Â 000 monthly salary to meet all expenses for the month.
Muponda needs Z$28Â 000 for bus fare to and from work, Z$30Â 000 for the two rooms he rents in Harare’s working-class suburb of Kuwadzana — and already this has chewed up his salary.
But thousands more Zimbabwean workers earn far less than what he is getting. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says the lowest paid government employee gets Z$12Â 000 per month. The union adds that farm workers are paid even less, a measly Z$6Â 000, which is not enough to buy a kilogram of meat.
“Life is very difficult my friend, we are suffering,” said Muponda, a messenger at a private security firm in the capital. “Now that you say inflation has gone up again obviously the shops will increase their prices again. Tell me, when will all this come to an end?” he asked, a distinctive tone of hopelessness unmistakable in his shaky voice.
Like Muponda, thousands of Zimbabweans are feeling the dire effects of hyperinflation, the most vivid illustration yet of the country’s worsening economic crisis, also seen in shortages of basic commodities, fuel and foreign currency. Unemployment stands above 80%.
Official data this week showed inflation zooming to new record levels of 1Â 281 percent in what analysts said had set the stage for the figure to hit 2Â 000% this year.
Zimbabwe’s inflation is the highest in the world and has eroded incomes of workers who have to grapple with rising transport costs, rentals, medical and school fees but have at the same time suffered from electricity and water cuts, burst sewers and crumbling public infrastructure.
Analysts say the country’s economic crisis, which is widely blamed on mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe’s government, is fuelling political tensions to dangerous levels in the once-stable and prosperous Zimbabwe.
“So this means we will be called on again to top up the school fees we paid just this week,” Florence Mawoyo, a 48-year-old mother of four said, referring to her two daughters who started secondary education at a boarding school near the eastern border city of Mutare.
“Inga chegore rino ndicho chikuru nhai vanhu wee [We are in real trouble this year],” she said in a tone capturing the suffering of the majority.
The government’s Central Statistical Office says an average family of five now requires Z$344Â 256 every month for it not to be considered poor. By that measurement, analysts say 85% of the 12-million Zimbabweans are poor.
Doctors and some nurses, who all earn less than Z$60Â 000, have gone on strike to press the government for higher salaries to cushion themselves against galloping inflation, with political commentators warning the job boycotts could spread to other sectors and become violent.
Patients have been left without medical care at the hospitals as the doctors maintain they will only start work when their demands for a salary rise of more than 8Â 000% and higher car allowances are met.
“Workers are suffering and what we are saying is that the government has not responded to our demands on the budget, which means we have little choice but to go on strike,” ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo told said. — ZimOnline