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Zimbabwean Government Workers Feeling High Inflation Heat

Columbus Mavhunga

   HARARE - Zimbabwe's government workers, including public prosecutors,
   say they are being squeezed by inflation, which is now running at an
   annual rate of 175 percent. Some have asked to live in their places of
   work to cut down on the cost of rent and transportation.

   Thirty-one-year-old Munyaradzi Masiiwa is a high school teacher in
   Harare. Masiiwa says he went into the profession because he admired his
   teachers growing up, and saw them living in nice houses and driving
   nice cars.

   But now, he says, he has lost all motivation, because his salary of
   less than $30 per month isn't enough to support his five dependents,
   including his 75-year-old mother and two children.

   This month, he says, the money lasted only three days.

   "I am going to work right now and l just got porridge. I cannot afford
   to buy a loaf of bread... It is very difficult, it is very difficult to
   get used to the situation. The family is looking up to me; l have
   nothing to offer. The kids are going to school with nothing to eat,"
   Masiiwa said.

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