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their toll on the people.
Some people, mainly MDC-T supporters, came from different parts of Harare to listen to the premier who had been promising heaven on earth to Zimbabweans, whose hopes had been supped by a long period of hardship.
These words are still resonating in the minds of many people who attended the event.
“Every civil servant will from the end of this month (February 14, 2009) earn foreign currency. All civil ser­vants should be at their desks on Monday,” he said.
Earlier on during his inaugural speech, the PM had also promised to do wonders in Government.
He said; “As Prime Minister, I make this commitment that, as from the end of this month, our professionals in the civil service, every health worker, teacher, soldier and policeman will receive their pay in foreign cur­rency until we are able to stabilise the economy . . .”
However, Mr Tsvangirai could have omitted some­thing during the address. He did not tell his supporters where the inclusive Government was going to get the money to pay the civil servants given that Government’s traditional rev­enue base — the industry — had been dec­imated by the sanctions.
The PM thought the West was going to release bil­lions into the sanctions-battered Zimbabwean economy and he was likely to emerge as the emancipator of the people. All this appeared to be hot air blowing and politics of promises and lies.
Three years down the line, civil servants are stuck on a salary of U$300 a month and PM Tsvangirai’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti has vowed not to increase their salaries. He argues the economy is not performing and one wonders what became of the money promised by the West. In fact, Zanu-PF’s Look East Policy continues to serve the country and the PM has also turned east as he realised that his backers have betrayed him.
He came face-to-face with the Western countries’ hypocrisy when he failed to bring money to support the Government after a whirlwind tour of Europe and America after being appointed Prime Minister.
However, MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwon­zora, has a different story as he argues his party per­formed well since 2009.
“We did very well in finance and our Minister of Finance did a lot to improve the lives of our people. We have done extremely well in the area of instilling fiscal discipline and stabilising the economy,” he said.
Quizzed why Finance Minister was refusing to increase salaries of civil servants, Mr Mwonzora blamed it on poor revenue inflows from the diamond companies.
“Objectively we have improved the lives of the civil ser­vants compared to 2008. However, there is a lot to be done to make sure the civil servants salaries are above the poverty datum line (about US$530 per month),” he said.
However, political observer and Zanu-PF legislator for Tsholotso North, Professor Jonathan Moyo, argued that the MDC-T achieved nothing when it went into Govern­ment. He said money was sourced from the World Bank and experts were brought in under Adam Smith Inter­national to work in PM Tsvangirai’s Office.
“They organised the 100 days, tried to do a host of things in those 100 days. They produced a Government Work Programme, which was presented in Parliament by the PM in April 2010 focusing on deliveries by the MDC-T. Nothing came out. They promised to address civil servants working conditions and said donors would support them. That did not happen,” he said.
MDC-T ministries organised a civil service audit sponsored by the World Bank, which according to Prof Moyo was later politicised and became a propa­ganda project.
“The Minister of Finance has displayed a mean spirit that has never been done by any Finance Minister in independent Zimbabwe. With all the money they received, the health sector is deplorable. One day in Gokwe the PM rebuked his Health Minister (Dr Henry Madzorera) and said the health sector was deplorable. There is disaster in the health, water and the energy sec­tors, ministries held by the MDC-T.”
He said Bulawayo was dry and the MDC-T Minister of Water Resources Management Simon Sipepa Nkomo, who happened to hail from the province, was clueless.
The reason why MDC-T was against the elec­tions, according to Prof Moyo, was that they knew they could not fulfill in less than six months what they failed to do in four years.
“The economy has been on auto pilot, thanks to the introduction of the multiple currencies by Zanu-PF before the formation of the inclusive Government . . . here would be disaster in this country,” he said.
Another political observer Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa, said the problem was the MDC-T built an illusion that its sponsors were going to give them billions of dollars to kick start the economy. He said the money promised four years ago for deliv­ering the so-called democracy was yet to be wired to Minister Biti.
“He forgot that America is hard with its money. If you do not surrender your resources, you will not get any­thing. Africa is now refusing with its resources and look at what is happening in Europe and America, there is economic recession. Economic power is now shifting from the West to the East and America and Europe is in doldrums and cannot help Minister Biti,” he said.