Members of Parliament (MPs) in Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF, have demanded higher salaries and additional benefits, including houses and Toyota Land Cruisers, before passing the country’s 2024 budget.
They argue that their benefits should be on par with those of ministers and complain that the budget of US$60,000 for each MP’s vehicle is insufficient. They are calling for housing allowances, staff, fuel allowances, and higher salaries to meet regional standards. They also want the construction of constituency offices and loans for purchasing houses.
ZimLive quotes Murewa South MP Noah Mangondo saying:
If you look at it, a minister has cabinet allowance, housing allowance, salary, workers who are paid by the government, telephone bills, fuel and everything. What about an MP?
Vehicles that were discussed here, my constituency Murehwa South, from one end to the other, I travel 60km on a dirt road, with no gravel. I was issued with a Toyota GD6 vehicle by my party, it is now a wreck, just in a space of four months. GD6 is not useful to me, I need a Toyota Land Cruiser for me to be able to move from one point to another…
We need to sit down to discuss this issue. If there is need to have a committee of MPs who can present our issues and not to be given small amounts which do not help us; it is not acceptable.
Shurugwi South MP Wilson Mhuri added:
The motor vehicles that we use are not in good condition since most of our vehicles broke down during campaigns. What motor vehicle does he (Ncube) have in mind?
I am not looking down upon the vehicle scheme, but vehicles for US$60,000 are not befitting of the stature of an Honourable Member of Parliament.
Insiza South MP Spare Sithole demanded that MPs who were in the ninth parliament should get the difference between the value of cars they were told they could import, and what they were eventually permitted. He said:
In the previous parliament, the 5th session, you promised us vehicles which were at US$80,000 but at the end of the session, you said the vehicles were now US$50,000 so there was a difference of US$30,000 which we thought we would be given as cash.
So as we are passing this budget, are we going to be given that difference?
Edmore Samambwa, MP for Zhombe, asked if the new MPs would also get US$40,000 loans like their predecessors. He said:
We also want to know before we pass this budget that, is duty-free still applicable in the 10th parliament as it was in the previous parliament. We also want to know, if members of the 9th parliament got US$40,000 loans are we also going to get them?
Ompile Marupi, MP for Gwanda South, added:
Why is there a selective application in terms of loan amounts? For example, ministers get US$500,000, deputy ministers get US$350,000 and the Member of Parliament gets US$40,000?
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has responded by increasing the budget for parliament and allocating funds for vehicles. However, he stated that the government cannot afford to repay the difference in vehicle prices from the previous parliament. Ncube assured the MPs that parliament and the treasury are working together to improve their salaries, with a target salary of US$2,000. He also proposed a South African model where land is identified for building accommodation for MPs. Ncube acknowledged the MPs’ concerns about poor accommodation and services provided by hotels and suggested that loans could be obtained for buying houses. However, he emphasized the need for further discussions to agree on the best model for providing accommodation.
Strive Masiyiwa · 1 year ago
Time to play?
__"There is a price to be paid for the success you want..." [Part 1]
When our first child, a daughter who is now 32, was about 18 months old, my greatest joy was getting home so that the two of us could play. And we would play until she went to sleep; the problem is she developed an exhausting habit of waking up in the middle of the night and demanding that we play!
My wife was having none of it and she insisted that we must teach her that there is a time to play and a time to do other things like learning and resting properly.
Over time then, in addition to play, we focused on teaching her cognitive skills and to enjoy learning. I thought about this earlier this year as she received her second Master's degree at Cambridge University. I smiled, even as tears welled in my eyes. If you are not yet a parent, someday you will know.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t have fun; my family and I have lots of fun together. Family time is very very important!
Why do I tell you this story?
The answer is simple; I see a lot of adults who actually don’t know that there is a time to play and a time to do more serious things. And yet those same people expect all the benefits associated with being fully productive.
I love sport and I could quite happily afford to go to the stadium in London twice a week or to watch all the games on TV.
The only serious entrepreneurs who spend that kind of time watching a sports team... own the team! And even then I know for a fact that owners of these teams don’t attend all the games!
Once or twice a month, I give myself a “treat” and it is to watch ONE game [ONLY] on TV; and maybe twice a year I will go to an actual stadium. And I always watch from a gym riding on a bike or treadmill.
The rest I just read as sports scores and match reports. Takes 15 minutes and I’m done!
The business of “playing” is one of the biggest and most diverse... and trillions of dollars are made. It uses terminology such as entertainment, gaming, leisure, etc., and it is a great business to be in. I make money from it myself.
If you are not in this business then you must make sure it does not consume you completely. It must be done with moderation if you truly want to succeed in life.
Then there is social media. Some people cannot go five minutes without checking their device for something [I know it’s not you!] I can assure Mark Zuckerberg does not do that, and he owns Meta!
And while no one is going to stop you from spending all your time watching TV, sport, gaming, videos, and laughing on social media platforms... do it with discipline and moderation so that you can have time to do other things.
After I watch a game on TV [90 minutes], I must immediately find something to do that is more productive. Mostly I read a book for the rest of the weekend. Everything must be deliberate and disciplined.
Is this work or play? If it’s play, then it should not be more than 15% of my available time.
I recently read the new biography of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. If there is one takeaway, he has a near superhuman work ethic. This is not a guy who would watch every game of a football team’s season!
And yet despite the ferocity with which he applies himself when he is pursuing his ventures, there was nothing I did not recognize; that pattern is similar to all the high-performance people I have ever known, whether in business, politics, or sport.
__Someone once said self-discipline is the bridge between your aspiration and its fulfillment. If you are not paranoid about wasting time, success will elude you.
When asked about why she had been so successful, one of my favorite evangelists of all time, Kathryn Kuhlman, said, “I was prepared to pay the price”.
There is a price to be paid for the success you want, and it begins with the ability to cut out unnecessary “play time”.
"The future begins with what you do today". Mahatma Gandhi
To be continued...
Image caption: Protect both your work time and family time from "time thieves". Before you know it, your children will be adults all grown up and living out of the house, like mine are now.
doug · 1 year ago
Let us respect other people and not use their thoughts without their permission and crediting them.
Sunday · 1 year ago
What a load of rubbish! Does that mean he works on Sundays? Even banks 🏦 close on Sundays and and yet that where people keep their money. The president of the United States 🇺🇸 also has some time to rest and have fun. If a man who runs the most powerful country in the world has time to rest, why can't a low-key billionaire do the same.
