RETAILERS, hawkers, bar owners and even shebeen queens are proverbially laughing all the way to the bank after the government paid civil servants their 13th cheques — the annual bonus given to public workers after 12 months of bureaucratic toiling.
It is the hope of everyone that the private sector emulates the government in paying their hard-working employees bonuses.
But a few employers in the private sector, which is reeling from a severe financial squeeze owing to the prevailing harsh economic climate, have also received the same token of appreciation ahead of the festival season as the new administration of President Robert Mugabe appears to be in sixes and sevens over how to get the economy kicking after Zanu PF’s controversial July 31 victory.
The hostile economic conditions makes it impossible for most companies to grant their hand-working employees the 13th cheques they so much deserve, much to the chagrin of the long suffering workers who are battling to put food on table.
But the Christmas period is known as a season of goodwill.
Banks were jam-packed with civil servants on Friday and yesterday as they jostled to withdraw cash in and around cities and towns.
Reports were awash that some members of the country’s defence forces went on buying sprees, with some furniture shops reportedly running out of fridges, beds, DVDs and other household goods.
Beer outlets reportedly run out of supplies, including the illegal shebeens, as civil servants enjoyed an early Christmas courtesy of the 13th cheque despite the government being technically broke and failing to show any signs of revving the economy more than 100 days after coming into office.
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But a word of caution to civil servants and other workers in the private sector that have had the privilege of getting the 13th cheque that the world does not end now. Use the windfall sparingly because the future looks very, very bleak.
The economy is at a standstill largely because the new administration is struggling to get it to kick due to a severe liquidity crunch, lack of investment and poor performance of primary sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and agriculture.
The first 100 days of the new administration have produced nothing. It has failed to produce something that could inspire confidence in the economy.
There has been more rhetoric than action on the part of the new administration instead of delivering on its election promises, among them job creation and resuscitation of the collapsed industries.
Economic intelligence reports indicate that 10 out of 74 companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange are in the black while the rest are in the red.
Investors are sitting on the fence. While there are bills to be paid in 2014, top among them school fees for children, citizens are advised to save for the rainy day as it looks doom is certainly looming on the horizon.
Avoid splashing the hard-earned cash as if there is no tomorrow because Zanu PF has failed to take us to the Promised Land.
