US embassy cable - 03HARARE244

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000244 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/S AND AF/EX 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
USDOC FOR 2037 DIEMOND            . 
PASS USTR ROSA WHITAKER 
TREASURY FOR ED BARBER AND C WILKINSON 
USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON 
 
E. 0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EFIN, ECON, APER, ZI 
SUBJECT: Zimbabweans' Tale of Downward Mobility 
 
Ref:  Harare 178 
 
1. Summary: The Embassy's Economic/Commercial section 
recently convened a discussion group of 25 lower-grade 
national employees to help us assess the impact of 
Zimbabwe's economic crisis on ordinary citizens. 
Employees described ever-worsening conditions in 
transport, health, education, housing and nutrition. 
Tragically, the world's fastest declining economy 
seems to be making them and their countrymen poorer 
each day. End Summary. 
 
2. We restricted the meeting to national employees 
grades FSN 6 and lower, aiming to learn how the 
downward spiral is affecting average Zimbabweans. 
Most earn US$150-400 per month, exceeding the salaries 
of counterparts outside the Embassy due to U.S. dollar 
indexing.  We summarize the main discussion topics 
below: 
 
Transport 
--------- 
 
3. As we pointed out (ref), transport between the 
high-density suburbs and downtown Harare has become an 
ordeal.  Some employees spend 2-3 hours commuting each 
way.  They criticize an increasingly common practice 
of van operators extorting high fees from desperate 
passengers.  Commuter vans raise fares 5-fold when it 
rains.  Employees are forced to pay one bribe to move 
to the head of the line, then a second bribe to board 
the van.  Sometimes van operators order people to 
disembark at the first stop in town or in the suburbs, 
so they can pick-up new passengers. 
 
4. Employees who drive now rarely secure fuel at the 
heavily-subsidized official price.  When a worker buys 
fuel from the Embassy warehouse at the international 
market price, he spends 6-7 times as much on fuel as 
he is accustomed to spend on the local economy. 
 
Health-Care 
----------- 
 
5. Quality of hospitals is sinking.  Many have nearly 
no drugs.  Meanwhile, doctors, nurses and other health 
professionals are emigrating and hence in short 
supply.  Patients must pay upfront for prescription 
medication, then apply to their private insurer for 
reimbursement. However, since the insurance company 
can take 4 months to process claims, Zimbabwe's high 
inflation eats a large chunk of the money they 
eventually receive. 
 
Education 
--------- 
 
6. Traditionally high education standards are 
similarly eroding.  One employee complained that 
public school teachers -- who earn US$ 20-30/month -- 
are so unmotivated that parents must pick up the slack 
and educate children in the evening.  This was unheard 
of just a few years ago.  An employee said his kid 
receives little attention in a class of 45 pupils, 
while another said he knows teachers who must oversee 
several grades at the same time.  Still another caught 
his child's teacher requesting that students bring 
supplies from home that were never used in class. 
Apparently, the teacher sought to supplement his pay 
by unloading the supplies on the black market. 
 
7. School fees are increasing.  One employee told of a 
5-fold increase since last year.  Schools have stopped 
supplying stationery and books, which parents can only 
obtain on the black market.  For example, a bookstore 
clerk could not sell an employee her daughter's 
required textbook for the controlled price.  Instead, 
the clerk directed her to a street-corner operator who 
demanded triple the GOZ's mandated price. 
 
Food 
---- 
8. Employees complained that it is impossible to 
budget for food -- which swallows most of their income 
- since it is on 
ly available at widely-fluctuating 
black market rates.  Many supermarkets engage in the 
illegal practice of "conditional selling," whereby 
they only offer staples like milk and bread to 
customers who pay a bribe or purchase a large amount 
of groceries. 
 
Comment 
------- 
9. Like nearly everyone here, employees are struck, 
even dumbfounded, by the speed of Zimbabwe's 
impoverishment.  Although Embassy employees have 
gained considerably over their counterparts due to 
salary dollarization, many Zimbabweans who owned cars 
and took middle-class vacations just 2 years ago 
barely able to feed and clothe their families today. 
They watch an historically excellent infrastructure 
crumble and have little choice but to bribe, cheat and 
extort their way to basic services.  Some say they 
have given up hobbies, since they devote their non- 
working hours to commuting and lining up for food, 
fuel or other price-controlled items. Worst of all, 
perhaps, is that the GOZ's economic policies are 
tearing apart society's moral tapestry, forcing 
formerly law-abiding firms and individuals into 
black market dealings.  Without a doubt, Zimbabwe is 
becoming a very different place. 
 
Sullivan