Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube will present his maiden National Budget to Parliament towards the end of November.
Parliamentary portfolio committees have been conducting hearings to receive public input into the preparation of the budget.
Submissions from the public will be used by parliamentary committees to prepare reports for presentation at the annual pre-budget seminar attended by Members of the National Assembly and Senate, ministers and senior government officials.
It is evident from the hearings conducted so far that economically weary Zimbabweans expect concrete actions that address an economic crisis characterised by shortages and spiralling prices of basic commodities, acute shortages of foreign currency and the rapidly falling value of the bond note against the United States dollar.
The hearings by committees will be meaningless if they do not influence the content of the budget and its macro-economic framework and come up with solutions to these pertinent issues being raised by the public.
Members of Parliament must understand that citizens are tired of being invited to endless meetings that do not culminate in their lives getting better.
While consultation of citizens is a constitutional requirement, the letter and spirit of the Constitution is that consultation must be meaningful.
Citizens must feel that their interests and aspirations are being seriously considered, and influencing policy direction. Waking up one morning with a far-reaching public policy pronouncement is not in the spirit of the Constitution.
The forthcoming pre-budget seminar between ministers and Members of Parliament is funded from the fiscus. It cannot be a productive use of scarce resources if that gathering turns out to be a mere talk shop.
That should be an occasion for the two branches of government to engage in constructive dialogue on the economy.
