“So what are your qualifications” I asked the young teller taking the cash for my electricity account that I have not received in over a year but must still pay anyway. “Three A levels” she replied.
“And how much are you paid?”
“One hundred dollars” and though she didn’t mention it I knew it was monthly.
I told her that my senior foreman went home with over $200 with overtime. Domestic servants are paid around $90 often with accomodation thrown in and my labourers earn $60 or more with overtime. Some have only a few years of education and cannot read or write. It is perhaps not surprising that the civil service is threatening a strike.
Meanwhile Harare’s mayor has budgeted for a new mayoral Benz for his use and a twin cab pickup for his wife (who is not an elected official). The drought is now starting to bite and no doubt the begging bowl will come out while the diamond fields in Marange continue to be plundered and new ways of taxing us are conjoured up.
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