Lelo Nxumalo

I recently learned that Zimbabwe was left with just over $200 in the bank after paying civil servants. "If Zimbabwe was a private company it would have closed down," Zimbabwean finance minister Tendai Biti told reporters this week. But it appears that the Minister's remarks may have been taken out of context. According to NPR , he was making the point that the ministry does not have sufficient funds to run the upcoming referendum elections. The election will cost about 100 million dollars and the treasury has some 30 million. The revenue streams, however, do need a boost as current expenditure on such things as teacher salaries cannot, in all fairness go down. The cost of living is quite high in Zimbabwe. I know this because I was home for the holidays. The government might look at raising taxes but on whom? The ongoing indigenization laws, which require foreign firms to yield 51% ownership to black Zimbabweans will push out investment "killing the goose that lay...