The Sunday News
Eddious Masundire Shumba
Zimbabweans from all walks of life were shocked by the recent survey which was carried by the Zimbabwe National statistics agency that the poverty datum line for a family of five family members has increased by more than eighty percent in the month of July.
The survey was for April which means since we are towards the month of September that figure has more than doubled and this means more suffering for Zimbabweans.
ZimStat revealed that a family of five members needed about $1 617 for it to survive in April but since all the basic commodities had their prices increased by more than five hundred percent it means the same number of family now needs much more than that.
As I speak sugar price has been increased to $26 while maize meal is now selling for about $100 for a 20kg bag, a 2lt of cooking oil is now selling for anything close to $40. It is very sad that although all shops are now pegging their prices using the interbank rate the same shops have failed to do the same when paying the salaries for their workers. Supermarket workers remain the least paid workers in the country although they work for longer periods from around 6am up to 11pm in the evening.
Workers have been crying that they want living wages for them to continue coming to work but most employers also complain that their businesses are not viable.
The interbank rate changes every day which means that salaries cannot even go for a week. Schools have also increased their fees and we saw many pupils being sent back home after failing to pay those exorbitant school fees. The price of bread has also gone up and very few families can afford to eat bread these days.
We are appealing to the Government and also private companies to increase salaries and allowances of their employees to save their lives. The cost of travelling is also too much these days and we hope that the authorities will do something as a matter of urgency because things are now very hard.
