No Money, No Problem for Zimbabwean Leader as Election Nears
- Government offers its 350,000 workers 15% pay increases
- Payroll already swallows more than 90 percent of state revenue
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Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is putting money his government doesn’t have on the line to increase its 350,000 workers’ salaries as the country gears up for next month’s elections.
Mnangagwa has pledged that the July 30 elections, the first since Robert Mugabe was forced to step down in November after almost 40 years in power, will be free of the rigging and violence that marred previous votes. His ruling party’s chances of victory should get a lift from his promise to grant 15 pay rises to civil servants, who swallow up 90 percent of the government’s budget, and improve benefits for war veterans who fought white-minority rule.