By Joshua Chigodora and Munyaradzi Chenje
Maria Kudzingwa vividly remembers the years of plenty in Nhekairo village, in Wedza. The rains were more reliable and rivers in her area flowed swiftly.
All those memories seem, however, to be drying up like the thirsty, cracked earth on which she is singing, patiently waiting at the borehole for her tum to fill her water pail.
With only six people at the borehole, including Kudzingwa — who is in her sixties – the atmosphere appears laid back belying the jostling and elbowing for position which usually takes place on a busy day. Kudzingwa sits close by to rest her legs tired from the 10-kilometre walk from her home to the borehole. She turns her wizened face to watch those ahead of her fill up their containers.
Up and down! Up and down, the handle of the hand pump goes, pumping water from the bosom of the earth. With each upward motion, the water flows into the pipe and is spat out, gushing into containers with each downward motion. Some of the water misses a container, splashing by its sides and trickles down the sloppy ground. Kudzingwa’s eyes seem to follow the trickle of water as it meanders its way on the ground. The flow gets slower and slower as the thirsty earth sucks up every drop of the water.
Nhekairo village, in Wedza, about 150 kilometres east of Harare, used to have abundant supplies of water, says Kudzingwa, finally turning up her face to her visitors. The village used to have plenty of water trees, such as the mukute trees but these have since been cut down, leaving the terrain bare and degraded.
For Kudzingwa, the past holds the best of her life experiences. The present, with its severe droughts and failed crops almost every season, is a stark reminder of paradise lost. Many of the villagers hardly harvested anything this past season as most of the crops wilted under the merciless heat from the sun and lack of rain. While the villagers were self-sufficient in food in the past, most of them have been forced to depend on handouts — government drought relief and welfare.
“I should be busy preparing my maize harvest at this time of the year, but here I am busy looking for water,” said Kudzingwa with disappointment in her voice. She points to a place where the village used to draw water from a spring which had water all-year round. Today, the same spring is only remembered in the past tense. Villagers also depended on hand-dug, shallow wells. But those have since given way to drilling rigs which are now used to tap an ever-receding water table deep down in the ground. Kudzingwa blames modem technology for such misfortunes, saying people no longer respect their ancestors and culture. She said the practice of praying for and receiving abundant rains has died and will never return as the spirits are upset with what is happening in this country.
As generations come and go, memories of springs with abundant water supplies, many hand-dug wells, and rain-praying ceremonies would probably only be remembered in folklore. But that too may be difficult to sustain for long, as the present generation seems to have been caught in vicious circle recurrent drought, large-scale crop failures, and the scorching sun.
Meyer also views the budget as inflationary and argues that no measures were Ween to achieve any desired fall of the inflation rate. For instance, the expected total revenue for this year is Z$18.3 billion, leaving an expected budget deficit of Z$4.274 billion — or 6.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
While this is a significant drop from last year’s, Chambati says the deficit will be financed through Z$300 million from net foreign inflows and Z$4 billion will be borrowed from the domestic market.
Some economists have expressed fears that using the latter to finance the deficit has inflationary effects and the inflation pattern predicted by Charnbati could be exceeded by a wide margin. The pattern will also be negatively influenced by the increase in prices as a result of the new sales tax which went up from 12.5 to 15 percent.
Other than the sales tax, prices of goods will also be affected by transport costs which are likely to go up as transporters transfer to the consumers, the costs brought about by the new customs duty for fuel. Duty for petrol went up from 67.Sc to 75c per litre while that for diesel was raised from l l.8c to 20c per litre.
These factors will impact on the inflation rates, which stood at 19.9 percent in July month. Until the end of 1995, the rates are predicted to rise to 24.6 percent due to salary adjustments, increases in power tariffs and general price increases for other commodities. Inflation is expected to decline gradually to about 16.6 percent by June next year, when the agricultural sector recovers.
Given the expected decline of 10.5 percent in the agricultural sector this year due to the drought, economic growth is expected to also drop from 5.2 percent recorded in 1994 to between one and two percent in
1995.
Economic growth will be mainly driven by the mining sector which is expected to grow by 10 percent.
The manufacturing sector, highly dependent on agricultural produce, will grow by only four percent while the hotel and restaurants sector will grow by seven percent.
Such a slow economic performance could result in a poor balance of payments (b.o.p.) position for the country as the nation resorts to imports to supplement its resources. For instance, shortfalls in maize, cotton, sugar, wheat and soya beans will require ZSl.7 billion in foreign currency.
Due to the size of these drought-related imports, it has been predicted that imports will grow by 13. 7 percent while exports grow by only 3.9 percent in 1995, a situation some economists say is not healthy for the b.o.p. position.
Chambati is optimistic that such deficits will be kept on check in future. For the estimated Z$4.274 billion domestic deficit, the Stop Payment facility will ensure that this figure is not exceeded. The facility would also be instrumental in avoiding deficit situations such as experienced last year. The last fiscal year’s deficit, including international aid grants, added-up to Z$5.153 billion, which constitutes 11 percent of the
GDP.
Some economists have argued that Chambati could not have performed miracles yet, given the nature of the economy that he inherited. Chambati, pointed out that the onus now rests on all concerned to perform their duties accordingly, because the credibility of his budget depended on a high degree of political commitment by all the ministries.(SARDC)
