Jenny’s family left this country in the 1960s when it was called Rhodesia. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence had been declared and things were not looking good so the family settled in Australia. She now has a 16-year-old daughter who is interested in coming here for a visit. Her father (the parents are separated) has determined that Zimbabwe is too dangerous and has forbidden Jenny and Meg to come here which he can legally do until Meg turns 18. Maybe he saw the Australian government travel warning on Zimbabwe which even I have to admit is pretty impressive. I also have to admit that everything on it is true though when one compresses all the woes of just about any country onto one page it is bound to be impressive. Some of it is downright daft; “A comprehensive indemnity is often required by safari operators before they accept clients” (italics are mine) – of course it is required, you are going to come close to wild animals which are dangerous! It completely fails to mention that most Zimbabweans are law-abiding citizens, are friendly to anyone who cares to be friendly back and will go out of their way to help out. “There has recently been an increase in armed robberies, assaults and other violent crime. Security risks are heightened at night, especially on city streets, and in or near parks and the city centres”. Yes, but how does that compare with say, Jo’burg?
Then yesterday I got some spam advertising various safari options for the whole family in Zimbabwe with a mention of a survey and report by International Living on which countries are a good place to live taking into account a whole host of factors that in their opinion contribute to quality of life. The quality of life index page makes for some interesting reading. Zimbabwe is 12 from the bottom just above Haiti. Somalia is at the bottom, where it should be in my opinion.
Let’s look at the table column by column. First from the left is cost of living. Zimbabwe is quite expensive and shares indices with the Ukraine, Uruguay and Latvia. Our neighbour, Mozambique is slightly cheaper to live in. No news here; Zimbabwe got expensive after the changeover to the US dollar from the doomed Zim dollar.
Sort the Leisure and Culture column and Zimbabwe is listed there between Brazil and Chile. Scrolling to the top of the page we see that France and Switzerland top the list. France I have no doubt should be there but Switzerland? Scroll down a bit and we find Swaziland ahead of the UK! Just how objective IS this list?
Sort the economy list and not surprisingly the USA is at the top but where is Zimbabwe? Oh dear, we are right at the bottom with a score of 0. Looks like I will have to change the script below the title on this blog. I knew things were bad but THAT bad? But where’s Haiti? What, they have listed Haiti’s economy ahead (just) of Brazil’s!
Let’s move on. Environment. Zimbabwe doesn’t score well on this one either – they must have had a look at Lake Chivero recently or seen the fires on the AFIS site. Iceland is right at the top. I guess it’s been a while since a volcano erupted there.
Freedom Hmm, this is not going to be good and… no it isn’t. Well, at least we are ahead of North Korea, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. The lower rankings are depressingly shared by our fellow African countries to the north. Russia is not highly rated either. Maybe this list is reasonably objective.
Health is topped by France and Japan and Zimbabwe is a bit further down. Well, it’s actually quite a long way further down with other African nations. That has not always been the case. I know a public health doctor and she’s told me that once upon a time when had a really good health system. But that is no reason to not visit the country. The private clinics have some fine health care professionals and specialists.
Infrastructure is not a shining light for Zimbabwe. We are ahead of Mozambique though and I am on the internet on “broadband”. Our version of broadband. Not yours!
We have a quite respectable score of 57 under Risk & Safety. Just about all the other nations listed have a higher score. Except Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti. It must be the driving but I cannot believe that anyone’s minibus drivers are worse than ours.
What about weather? Click on the weather column and there we are; right at the top with Malta! I’ll accept that ranking. I don’t suppose the Aussie government bothered to look at our weather ranking. I don’t care that much, I KNOW we have great weather here in Harare. I’m not sure that I’d want to live in the south-eastern lowveld but it is pleasant enough in winter. Summer it gets very hot and humid.
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
Panic, greed or both?
11 03 2026On Wednesday morning the previous day’s rumour of fuel price increase was proven correct. Diesel price had gone up from $1.53 per litre to $1.77. Please note that is US dollars not the local ZWG dollar which despite being an official and rate-controlled currency nobody wants it, most certainly not the fuel stations.
The reason given for the price increase is the ongoing war in Iran. I suspect that it’s a convenient excuse to bleed the Zimbabwean public of yet more money. Yes, the increase in crude oil price is going to cause a knock-on effect to the pump prices but nearly 16%? What does the government think the knock on to cost of living is going to be? Do they care? Will it come down if or when the fuel prices are reduced? Not a chance!
Being a landlocked country all imports of consequence come in by road or rail. A telling exception is the fuel pipeline from the Mozambique port of Beira to Mutare, a city on the eastern border of Zimbabwe, which accounts for some 90% of fuel imports. This means that oil price increases are going to have a minimal effect on pump costs. This doesn’t seem to have been incorporated into the ZERA (Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority) calculation of how the maximum allowable fuel price arrived at. ZERA is the government body that regulates maximum fuel prices – I am not sure what else it does if anything.
More tellingly there is no indication of how much the source price has changed so it is effectively meaningless. The government has lost no time in telling us just how lucky we have been that it didn’t increase more (last paragraph in italics below):
“The petroleum prices are with immediate effect from 4 March 2026 for the next two weeks. In the meantime, ZERA will be closely monitoring the market developments to ensure that there is adequate supply in the market.
“The above prices are as a result of Government reducing some of its charges to cushion the consumers from astronomical increases that have happened from changes in the international market.
“Without Government cushioning, the actual prices would have been US$1.90/litre for diesel and US$1.81/litre for blend.”
This is from a government that has imposed taxes on bank transfers of 2% (some are exempt such as pensions), 2% tax on cash withdrawals from banks and a VAT of 15.5% that has just gone up from 15%. Income is taxed starting at $100 per month. Foreign currency transactions by debit card now attract a 15% tax. This is a government desperate for cash.
The shortage of cash is evident in the public sector. The road from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls is nearly impassable in places. There are lots of others. Talking to a friend who lives in the eastern highlands area of Nyanga she tells me that it takes her an hour to go 7km along a road that became impassable in January due to heavy rains and other stuck vehicles. Roads in our suburb of Mount Pleasant can require a good deal of patience to negotiate and the problem is widespread in Harare. Power outages and poor voltage are endemic and municipal water is erratic and at best a trickle (ours goes into the swimming pool for storage). What was once the pristine central business district of Harare is now the proverbial dog’s breakfast of rubbish, potholes, vendors and a bad smell to boot.
The tax department works! It’s had a complete makeover in the last year or so and nearly everything is doable online. That’s including the notorious QPDs (Quarterly Payment Due) whereby one has to estimate the company profit or loss four times a year with penalties enforced for being inaccurate. Yes, you got it – taxed in advance!
Businesses eligible to charge VAT have to have a computerised point-of-sale that is linked to the tax department’s computer system and every invoice or cash sale has a QR code on it. Scan the QR code and you can see a representation of the invoice. Try it on the example. I have to admit that I’m impressed.
So when the government hikes the fuel price by nearly 16% and tells us that it could have been more I am sceptical (I am already cynical).
Postscript: In the time taken to write this blog fuel pump prices have rocketed the world over. The Zimbabwe government might just have to rescind its decision to “cushion” price increases. So far there haven’t been reports of fuel shortages but the bulk diesel price on the sign pictured is now zero – none to be had.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: cost of living, crude oil, fuel prices, fuel shortage, income tax return, invoice, Iran war, pump price, tax clearance, VAT, Zimbabwe Government
Categories : Business, News & Various, Social commentary