The Sunday News
Economic Focus Patience F Madambi
WITH all due respect to Gabriel Masvora’s voice of reason in giving a sober explanation to why Bulawayo and nay the country as a whole had difficulty voluntarily accepting the bond coins but nothing grates the nerves like an obvious public relations boob disguised as something else.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe really needs to step up in its public relations efforts if confusion and distrust of its activities are to be alleviated and instead received positively by a populace still smarting emotionally from heavy financial losses experienced about seven years ago after the introduction of the infamous bearer cheques whose memory has been ignited by the bond coins.
Perception remains that the central bank was responsible for the suffering and loss of savings during the time when most people’s savings were wiped out by galloping inflation.
The acceptance of the bond coins by the market has been slow while response from key economic drivers has been that of caution and detachment.
This has forced the RBZ to perform its public relations task in reverse action as it is now finally seeking engagement with the people through the launch of educative campaigns mainly targeted at the informal sector encompassing transport operators, vendors and the generality of the transacting public.
RBZ spokesman and coincidentally my former trainer at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation during my formative years, Mr Alson Mfiri, should have known that educating the public normally precedes an action of such national magnitude.
Instead, the RBZ had assumed the public would readily accept the coins with the simplistic public relations message that the coins would alleviate the problem of change and encourage retailers to price goods correctly while continually repeating that the time of receiving sweets as change was over.
The cool response from the banking sector gives the impression that wider consultations were never considered and this in itself raised the alarm bells even further.
Unfortunately the bond coins opened old wounds and it is this harsh reality the RBZ failed to acknowledge and openly be sensitive to and instead behaved in an almost callous and unilateral manner.
And so while Government through the RBZ continues to spell out the goodness of the coins, the feeling on the ground is that there is a hidden sinister intention at play.
Unlike Zambians, Zimbabweans are always fragmented when a concerted effort is called upon to repair and improve the economy through various programmes. And so instead of moving forward, the situation is often worsened.
In recollection, the period before the Zambian government introduced the latest one hundred kwacha, word on the street was that all forex was to be converted using official avenues before transacting.
And for sure, my visit to that country re-introduced me to the long forgotten experience of forex dealing with an official bank.
As a typical Zimbabwean I was pensive and developed a headache because it seemed impossible not to be cheated.
Zambians paid heed to the call by the late President Michael Sata not to trade with forex and to instead promote their local currency.
In the end it really is up to Zimbabweans from all walks of life and in whatever sector of business to weigh the pros and cons and eventually go with the flow if swimming against the tide yields nothing productive.
Patience F Madambi is a PR PRO and can be reached on 0774317070.
Silence on January salary negotiations, a signal of mounting problems facing industry
Traditionally workers expect their employers to review salaries in January as way of motivating them to start the year aiming higher.
It seems, however, this year, instead of coming back to find a salary review, many workers are facing not just the gloomy of a stagnant salary but a host of problems some severe that they are even threatening their sources of livehood.
Most companies instead of talking about salary reviews are telling workers of cost cutting measures some of which might see some employees losing their jobs.
Among the threats many workers are facing include salary cuts, retrenchments or in worst case scenarios company closures and liquidation which might see some of the workers walking away with nothing.
The signs of a dying workforce is even evident among workers unions.
Once very powerful, workers unions have seen their membership going down as more companies shed jobs.
Suddenly workers unions have been reduced to toothless bodies whose voices and influence no longer count for anything. Soon the May Day celebrations in the country will lose meaning.
Even leaders of these unions seem to have finally accepted that the days of them properly representing the worker are now in the books of history.
It is tough because even those companies that have managed to stay above water are also finding it difficult to pay workers on time.
All this point to an industry that is struggling and in need of urgent measures to save it from collapsing.
Many companies might be forced to scale down drastically or in the worst case scenario close down.
Already the country has witnessed a number of company closures with estimates indicating that at least 100 companies have closed only in Bulawayo, once the country’s industrial hub.
The country cannot afford any more company closures hence the need for Government and the financial sector to quickly come in with a rescue package.
That is why Government on its part must expedite such enabling factors like the setting up of Special Economic Zones to provide incentives for the business community. It is now nearly two years since the issue of Economic Zones has been talked about but nothing is materialising on the ground.
The country needs to move fast with some of its policies or else by the time we get to another January we will be talking of another gloomy picture for the workers and the economy in general.
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