Elitist Budget is not for us, it is for Politicians, the Rich and the Elites.
The 2011 national budget by Minister of Finance Mr. Tendai Biti had positive gains for the social services, i.e., health and education. But it would be naïve to pretend not to see the thinly veiled attack upon the poor unleashed in the Budget presentation on Thursday 25 November 2010. We seek to expose the hypocrisy behind the publicity that was so over-zealously praised by the bourgeoisie media and politicians as pro-poor especially basing on a paltry handout that was promised civil servants and the nation.
The salary increments to public sector workers did not come on a silver platter neither does it fool anyone to think Biti and the ruling class have any benevolence in them especially after the minister gained notoriety for advocating for a wage freeze early this year. Indeed the 100% salary increase came as a result of massive struggles carried out by civil servants for the major part of this year. As a comparison the private sector workers whose struggles were less keen only saw at most a 10% salary increment. To further expose Biti’s cunning, he set the tax-free threshold at $225.Predcisely that’s where him and his fellow ruling class scum desired the salary scale to be (if only it weren’t for next years polls and the militants demonstrated by government employees this year.)
The conclusion is that action works. Jambanja ndizvo. Now further action is more necessary than ever if we are to beat the Poverty datum line which is still a further $200 away. Furthermore Biti’s Budget statement has remained virtually silent on the salaries of MPs and Judges. These were just removed from the civil servants’ Salary Services Bureau but we were not told their salaries. We Demand fairness, transparency and justice, Mr Biti!
Student Loan Fund. The birth pangs of privatisation
Biti promised to resuscitate the Student Loan scheme, to that end he set up $15 million. Never could he have found a more explicit way of privatising tertiary education than what he exposed in his budget presentation. Students might celebrate but they need only question why the government has decided to partner itself with a bank if it was so sympathetic. From experience banks would be vey crucial when it comes to following up on creditors (read poor students) .And we need not mention commercial bank rates!
DESIRABLE BUDGET
Frankly, the budget allocations for the crucial social services sector of education and health are far from desirable neither do they meet the crucial needs of these sectors. Education demands in Zimbabwe go beyond $400m, likewise with Health where no provision was made for the availability of Anti-retroviral Drugs. Penga Murwere Penga. But the budget was never funded by people who rob the nation of its wealth, ie, the rich capitalists and pro-imperialist multinationals. The 2010 budget is being funded by the poor while the rich benefits. So the Budget is being openly funded by the working class and the poor as they go to buy their daily bread(vat) and w2hen they earn their salaries(pay as you earn) and not capitalists who have stricken it rich in our diamond fields of Chiadzwa or past opposition sponsors, the western imperialists..The class war is advancing in Zimbabwe but unfortunately the working class has not been militant enough. Time is now ripe for the formation of a socialist workers party in Zimbabwe that is rooted in the day to day struggles of the poor, workers and students
Cdes Lenin Chisaira & Oscar Simbi
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