Mugabe criticises whites over ministers' pay rises

Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, at the weekend castigated independent newspapers for reporting the proposed pay rises of up to 182 percent for his 51 ministers and members of parliament, news reports said. "They are all in the opposition, none of them is independent, you can read from them the stance of the white man," Mugabe reportedly told delegates to the ruling ZANU (PF) women's conference. The reports added that Mugabe named as co conspirators 'The Sunday Standard' and 'The Independent' both of which are owned by companies in which the papers' editors hold major shareholdings. The proposed pay rise for the ministers and MPs comes against the backdrop of an ailing economy under which ordinary Zimbabweans are battling an inflation rate of over 50 percent and a weekend strike by staff of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe who are demanding a 45 percent cost of living allowances. The bank workers join employees of the parastatal Zimbabwe Newspapers who have been on a two-week strike for a 40 percent pay increase.