Preliminary figures indicate that Finance Minister Tendai Biti has managed to keep the government within its Budget and even managed a surplus of US$30.4 million – a feat probably not achieved by any finance minister since Bernard Chidzero.

The surplus would be used to support expenditures in January 2012, mainly salaries and pension payments, at a time when revenue inflows are seasonally low, said Biti in a post-budget statement.

But the economy is still experiencing low liquidity, making it difficult to implement the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system and make high-value transactions, so he has introduced measures in conjunction with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Bankers Association, which will be announced by the Reserve Bank in due course.

One-man political party leader Job Sikhala defends one-man trade union leader Ray Majongwe in what could be a decicive battle against veteran trade unionist Lucia Matibenga, now an MDC Minister

In the wake of calls by MDC-99 president Job Sikhala for her resignation, Public Service Minister Lucia Matibenga has hit back saying some people were trying to make a political issue out of the strike and make her “the face of the problem” when they know very well that the employer of civil servants is the Public Service Commission (PSC).She said workers should be negotiating with the PSC and not her, because the role of the Minister is to make policy, not to negotiate with the workers.