Zimbabwe's civil servants are discovering the moral of the
Goose-Golden Eggs story, as Zimbabwe's Central Bank no longer has a currency to manage (i.e., they can no longer print the money to pay the country's public expenditures);
“Our top priority is a demand for the gazetting of pay dates. We cannot keep civil servants guessing on when they will be paid, so we want a serious commitment,” said Richard Gundane, chairperson of the Apex Council, in an interview with The Zimbabwean on the side-lines of the national public servants day commemorations held recently.
The Apex Council is the body that brings together all the unions representing civil servants, the largest being the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).
Gazetting, as you may have guessed, is a Briticism for,
officially announcing.
Since the beginning of this year, civil servants have had their paydays moved as government struggles to put together the required funds. Though top officials in the Zanu (PF) government have refused to admit that it is because the economy is collapsing, President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba confirmed to journalists in Gweru last month that that the situation is bad.
We wonder how putting Mugabe's mouth where the money needs to be, will improve the civil servants' position. The currency in Zimbabwe is US dollars, British Pounds and Euros. Which don't come just because the President calls for them.
Zimbabwe officials should counterfeit dollars, or whatever is easiest. Yes, they would need to invest a bit of funds into making good plates, but after that they should be good. When government does it, it is not illegal.
ReplyDeleteThe model is what our US government is doing. They have good plates, electronic systems, and the indirection of the FedReserve buying the government's bonds. It is counterfeiting to perfection.
The FedGov backs its new money with the full faith and credit of the FedGov's ability to extract real value from the same populace it is buying goods from at the present. To simplify, it pays the plummber with promises which are supported by that plumber's work in the future. The plumber is paying himself. It is perpetual motion perfected.