stoppages which started in eastern Zimbabwe and then spread to the northern and central regions. Thousands of singing, chanting workers also blocked highways for days, in the biggest disruption to large-scale farming since independence in 1980. The workers, some of whom earned as little as US$29 a month, were demanding US$67. Another issue that brought people out on the street during 1997 was housing, and the revelations of scandals in the awarding of houses and housing stands angered many Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe was facing a housing crisis in its urban centres, with official figures from the Ministry of Local Government and National Housing putting the national housing waiting list in urban centres in excess of 200 000 names, double the 100 000 figure bandied around in the early 1980s. "Urban migration by rural folk hoping to strike it rich in the big urban centres partly explains the expanding housing waiting lists at municipal housing offices nationwide," said Local Government and National Housing Minister John Nkomo, whose ministry encompassed the housing portfolio. The Government, obviously unable to come to grips with the magnitude of the housing shortage, moved forward to the year 2020 its target of providing accommodation to all Zimbabweans, initially set to be achieved by the year 2000 amid the euphoria that surrounded the announcement of similar worldwide targets. It was an ambitious project that would require billions of dollars in both public financing and private capital, money the cash-strapped Government did not have. However, perhaps the most stark description of the difficulties facing Zimbabweans came from Government’s own study on poverty, “The Poverty Assessment Study Survey” prepared by the Social Development Fund in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. The study indicated that 74% of Zimbabweans were poor, with 45% of Zimbabwean households living below the food poverty line. Food shortage was reported as the primary indicator of poverty, followed by shortages of clothing, lack of draught power and inability to send children to school. The study indicated mark decline in the economic well-being of Zimbabweans over the previous 4 years, with 74% now “poor” as opposed to 64% four years previously. This was bolstered by the 1997 annual report of the RBZ which warned that living standards in the country were deteriorating despite Government efforts to pursue economic policies aimed at promoting sustained growth. According to the central bank, average annual economic growth since 1991 had reached 1.8% against the Government target of 5% Gross Domestic Product, while annual population growth had averaged 3%. The bank said there was need for restraint in wage and salary hikes because evidence showed that labour productivity was expected to rise at a reduced rate of about 2% compared with just over five percent in 1996. Failure to take this into account in salary and wage awards would lead to higher inflation levels to the detriment of the economy as a whole. Taxes and Levies Taxes and levies were another source of discount during 1997. Already one of the highest taxed populations in the world, Zimbabwean were confronted by the prospect of even further taxation, and this was one of the more obvious causes of social unrest, and the explicit cause of the demonstrations in December 1997. In August 1997, Government proposed a tax on pension funds, which drew sharp criticism from all sectors. There were several rises in the costs of fuels, and, most importantly for the average consumers, rises in the cost of electricity. The levies and taxes even drew fire from parliamentarians themselves, most dramatically when they rejected new taxes imposed by the Government. The higher taxes were part of the Government's efforts to raise the money it needed, without increasing borrowings, to pay monthly pensions to about 70,000 war veterans. Confident that the parliamentarians would toe the line, Finance Minister Murerwa put the proposed legislation on a fast-track hoping that it would be passed the same day. In fact, the Government had already gazetted the increased sales tax starting from 1 December. Sales tax would have jumped from 15% to 17.5%, and an increase in fuel prices would have doubled tax on electricity from 5% 10%. But instead of approval, Murerwa had to suspend the second reading of the proposed Bill when it became apparent that all the legislators were against it. The Land Issue