Harare - Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, is having a very tough time. He can neither rescue the economy nor stop his boss, President Robert Mugabe, from interfering in his budget.
Last week, Chinamasa went to parliament and slashed government spending on civil service salaries and, in particular, the annual Christmas bonus in his mid-term budget review.
This was what he tried to do last year as well. But when Mugabe heard the reaction to the bonus cut then, he immediately publicly contradicted Chinamasa and said it must be paid.
The finance ministry then spent the next nine months looking for cash to pay the bonus.
Finding the bonus money caused late payment of civil service salaries, including soldiers’ pay for the last three months.
And poor pensioners are nearly always queuing outside the post office or banks to get their pittance.
So with regular late public pay cheques, lack of cash at the banks and ahead of the issue of a limited amount of a new currency next month, known as bond notes, Chinamasa, tried again.
He told parliament in his review the annual civil service bonus would not happen for two years.
He cut allowances to some senior civil servants and said he had to slash 25 000 government jobs and reduce some salaries by more than 5 percent.
After all, he said, the cost of keeping the government paid eats up to 97 percent of its revenue and he needed to reduce this to about 60 percent in the next few years.
For a few days there was a furious reaction in the media from civil servants. But Mugabe didn’t contradict Chinamasa. He stayed quiet and prepared to depart for Lusaka and New York.
Earlier this week, Chris Mushowe, the junior information minister spoke out as Mugabe left for overseas and said Chinamasa’s proposals were tabled before the cabinet. But they had not been approved.
“It is hoped that this clarification puts to the rest anxieties that may have arisen within civil service, the farming community and public at large,” said Mushohwe.
A well-placed source in Zimbabwe’s official financial sector, and who asked not to be named, said the contradiction of Chinamasa’s latest efforts to ameliorate the worst effects of the economic crisis, was “political”.
The Zanu-PF elite is split into factions over who will succeed Mugabe should he die, or be forced into retirement by the economic catastrophe. Chinamasa, who is an experienced and senior lawyer and has successfully re-engaged with Western diplomats and international funds, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, is seen in some quarters as a supporter on the sidelines of the faction which wants Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe.
But others are backed by first lady Grace Mugabe, who is either a contender for the post or looking for a vice president’s position or will back another contender.
With Mugabe away at the UN General Assembly in New York, no one is sure whether Mushowe’s remarks were the real thing and will be confirmed by Mugabe when he returns home. Or whether Chinamasa has had his way and has taken a small, but significant step towards reducing the massive government pay roll by about $150 million by the end of next year.
Many commentators say Chinamasa has been humiliated.
And he is taking strain as he is still looking for $1.8bn loan to pay off the World Bank in particular and the African Development Bank and the IMF so he can borrow for Zimbabwe and refurbish infrastructure to try to reduce imports and better balance Zimbabwe’s books.
Independent Foreign Service