A new raft of import duties means what was a necessity is now a luxury, especially for the ladies
Life here in Zimbabwe gets harder every day, and if you don't believe me, ask a woman. She'll tell you that things have lately got a lot tougher, with the sudden scarcity of that most intimate of all feminine garments, her panties.
It's arguable, of course, that such wispy undergarments are as important to us guys as they are to the girls, but either way it makes no difference. Suddenly they are either unavailable or unaffordable. Why? Who do we blame for this further restriction on our pursuit of happiness?
Who else but the government?
Apparently in our rulers' view panties are now a luxury. And under the Customs and Excise (Designation of Luxury) amendment notices they have become subject to a whacking new import tax.
Panties do not, so to speak, stand alone. They are joined in this luxury designation by all underwear for both sexes, plus bras, hosiery, girdles, veils, gloves and ties. From now on import duty on all these items will be 60 per cent of the value, plus US$10 per kilogram.
And the list of such "luxuries" gets longer. Carpeting, bed linen, blankets, all now attract the same duty - although, interestingly, electric blankets are exempt. Which is logical when you think about it. Who wants an electric blanket when there's no electricity?
I shoiuld also mention that fridges and cookers are also now considered luxuries, attracting the same 60 per cent of value duty, plus the sum of US$45 per item.
These new regulations are the work of possibly the most beleaguered man in all Africa, Zimbabwe's finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi, and are part of his ever-more-desperate attempts to hold back the tide of our financial disaster.
To be serious for a moment, it is as ever the ordinary people who suffer most from this government's blunders. Abigail Zumalo, a Bulawayo housewife, told me her daughter in Australia recently sent her a big suitcase of second-hand clothes.
"I hoped to sell some of them, to raise a little money to buy food," Abigail told me. Now she can't find the money to pay the duty, and her suitcase joins thousands of other parcels and packages stacking up in Customs warehouses.
I pointed out to the lady in my life that feminine undergarments still seem to be in plentiful supply in Chinese shops. She gave me a scornful glance. Didn't I know, she asked, that Chinese panties fall apart after less than a day's wear?
No, I didn't know that. And I could think of nothing to say in reply. Can you?
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