Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube faces war from various fronts as civil society organizations team up with the citizenry to dump the banker’s austerity for posterity measures on the back of further economic collapse with workers earnings having been eroded to the last drop.
By Costa Nkomo
As a former chief economist and vice president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Ncube was entrusted to be laden with a pool of financial measures that would rescue the country’s economy which has been bleeding for at least two decades now.
In solidarity with Zimbabwean workers and the world at large, Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) in a press statement implored all workers and social institutions to team up against Ncube’s tighten your belt approach which has subsequently thrown civil servants and workers across the board into abyss.
“It is worrying that this year Workers’ Day is being commemorated in the midst of a deep socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe, worsened by neo-liberal policies being implemented under the “Austerity for Prosperity” mantra. This has caused untold suffering to the workers in Zimbabwe due to continually rising cost of living further eroding wages and salaries.
“ZIMCODD therefore call upon workers and all other social movements to unite against austerity measures targeted at the poor workers while those who have access remain living in luxuries funded through the national fiscus.
“ZIMCODD calls for an alternative pro-poor economic system that value workers, cognisant of the fact that workers create society’s wealth but have no control over its production and distribution,” read part of the statement.
Inspired by debt audit, social and economic justice for the citizenry, ZIMCODD has joined forces with Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) advocating for the respect of workers’ rights at the same time calling for the creation of decent jobs for the jobless.
“Facilitate the transition of workers and economic units from the informal to the formal economy, while respecting workers’ fundamental rights and ensuring opportunities for income security, livelihoods and entrepreneurship; Promote the creation, preservation and sustainability of enterprises and decent jobs in the formal economy and the coherence of macroeconomic, employment, social protection and other social policies,” the statement read.
Barely four months after President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed Ncube to take charge of the finance ministry, discord reigned supreme due to new financial measures that failed to map out the direction of economic revival instead poor workers were burdened with the two percent tax on all electronic transactions above $10.
The citizens have however blamed the minister for all the economic mess that the country is in.
