There are those who thrive amid Zimbabwe’s economic woes

HARARE, Tuesday - For Zimbabweans saddled with the world’s highest rate of inflation, the adage ‘necessity is a mother of all inventions’ strikes a familiar tune.

For outsiders it is mind boggling how Zimbabweans survive with inflation topping 13 million per cent, an unemployment rate of more than 80 per cent and average wages of less than US10 a month.

Yet on the pot holed streets of the major cities you see the latest top of the range vehicles and shelves at supermarkets in the poorest locations filled with imported food stuffs.

Longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe who is blamed for destroying the once prosperous economy with populist policies once dared those who claimed Zimbabwe could not afford to import fuel to lie on Harare’s busiest high way for five minutes.

His spokesman, Mr George Charamba often boasts that he sells poultry to complement the meagre salary he draws from the civil service.

“I think if the government is serious about its anti-corruption drive it should investigate all civil servants to establish how they afford to continue coming to work when their salaries are not even enough for their transport for a week,” said Mr Meshack Bere an illegal foreign currency dealer at Harare’s Roodeport International Bus Rank.

“It is either they are stealing or they run small businesses from their works tat ions where they abuse government facilities such as telephones and computers.”

However, such an audit would be a waste of scarce national resources as the answers are there for everyone to see – almost all Zimbabweans are now “dealers.”

In a story that made headlines in the country last week, two men after buying 12 head of cattle at an auction were overhead asking themselves what they would do with the beasts.

Did not have a farm

They did not have a farm neither did they have plans to slaughter the beasts because they bought them on impulse since they had so much cash they didn’t know what to do with it.

But there are so many other novel ideas of making quick money that keep cropping up that defy all economics models.

The latest get rich craze that has hit Zimbabweans has been necessitated by the acute shortage of cash that has seen the central bank restricting daily cash withdrawal limits to an amount not even enough to buy a loaf of bread. “Those with access to foreign currency take it to the banks whose rates are double those offered by foreign currency dealers,” Mr Shame Mandizvidza, a bank teller said. “Instead of giving them cash the banks transfer the money to their accounts”

On Friday US$100 gave you Z$250 000 on the streets and double that at the banks. To make profit, those who are enterprising use bank certified cheques to withdraw their money, which they quickly off load on goods that could be resold fast.

“Some buy milk or other groceries, which they sell at half price to raise cash that is quickly turned into foreign currency before taking it back to the bank,” added Mr Mandizvidza, who drives a Pajero imported from Singapore. “A lot of these dealers have set up permanent bases at these banks where they spend the whole day moving money from one account to another.