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TITLE: Zimbabwe: Defiant informal traders battle
to survive
AUTHOR: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
CATEGORY: Zimbabwe
DATE: 7/5/2005
SOURCE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks SOURCE WEBSITE:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47971&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE
SUMMARY & COMMENT: Zimbabwe’s informal traders,
disenfranchised by the government’s controversial urban clean-up
exercise, are resurrecting themselves in new and often creative
ways. They either relocate their businesses at their homes or display
only "samples" on the forbiden streets. Analysts predict
that the informal sector will continue to strive, in different guises.
Zimbabwe is currently suffering from a 70% unemployment rate and
the worst economic decline in its history.
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Defiant informal traders battle to survive
Many Zimbabweans depend on informal trade
Zimbabwean informal traders affected by the government’s
controversial clean-up operation have come up with ways - often
novel - to keep their businesses alive and out of the watchful eye
of the authorities. From locating business operations at their homes
to displaying wares as "samples" on the street, defiant
traders were fighting to survive because they had no alternative
source of income, said analysts.
Humanitarian agencies noted the ongoing operation
had so far left at least 320,000 people homeless and many thousands
without livelihoods. The government has argued that the operation,
which began over a month ago, was meant to rid urban centres of
criminal activities, including illegal foreign currency dealing.
"Most of the informal traders have known no
other way of fending for themselves and their families, and it is
not surprising to see them establishing themselves again in areas
that they have been chased away from," the chief executive
officer of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), Innocent
Makwiramiti, told IRIN. "The government destroyed the informal
sector at a time the country is suffering from its worst unemployment
levels. Naturally, the victims of the operation would always find
ways of continuing with their businesses, even though that might
be illegal," he commented.
Jane Ngwerume, 30, a single mother of three, used
to sell wooden curios and traditional herbs in the populous suburb
of Mbare before the market was destroyed last month. She now runs
her business from home. "Even if the police arrest me a hundred
times, I cannot watch while my children starve. When the authorities
demolished our market, my parents removed a tenant who was living
in their house, and I moved in. I consider myself lucky because
at least I have somewhere to operate from. The police have not yet
discovered that is what I am doing, because my clients could just
as well pass for visitors. I keep the room where my wares are stocked
locked, just in case someone tips off the authorities," said
Ngwerume. But, unlike the busy Mbare market, her home-based business
draws few customers.
Ngwerume’s neighbour, Eunice Sithole, who is
24 and single, now also operates from home after her hair salon
was destroyed. She said the police had confiscated her equipment
but she used her savings to buy a new hair dryer and chemicals,
and her clients followed her. "But business is no longer as
good as it used be, since the space is too small, and my equipment
is gone. My situation has been made worse by the fact that my landlord
has said he wants an ’operating fee’, in addition to me
having to pay part of the water and electricity bills. "What
consoles me is that I can make enough money to buy food, and the
police are not coming after me - at least for now," commented
Sithole.
Former ’tuckshop’ owners in many of the
densely populated suburbs in the southwest and northeast of the
capital, Harare, have also resorted to moving their shops to their
homes; other defiant former business owners are running their operations
in open spaces. Jaison Makaya of Glen View, about 20 km southwest
of Harare, said that to avoid being arrested, he displayed "sample"
goods, which he monitored from a distance. "I hide my goods
in the bush, from where I go and retrieve them when a customer approaches
me. Initially people thought I was mad, but they are now used to
my new way of doing business. In any case, they are forced to buy
from me because the nearest shops are far away and usually do not
have what I can provide," said Makaya. His daring wife, Betty,
sells vegetables outside a shopping centre about a kilometre away.
In the city centre, sweet and cigarette vendors hide
their goods in drainage pipes and, like Makaya, display "samples"
in the form of empty cigarette cases. While they sell small items
during the day, the vendors take advantage of the cover of night
to sell other goods like vegetables and clothes to commuters waiting
in long queues to go home after work. ZNCC chief Makwiramiti said
the government should have given the informal traders sufficient
time to legalise their businesses to ensure that their sources of
income were not disrupted.
The police recently announced that they had vetted
around 7,000 vendors, who would soon be allocated stands at approved
locations, but according to Makwiramiti the figure represents a
small fraction of the number of people who were affected by the
operation. Traders applying for a stand are required to show proof
of legal residence, national identity cards and receipts to prove
their wares have been procured legally. The monthly rental for a
stand will be about US $60.
Hairdresser Sithole was critical of the eligibility
requirements. "The government is not catering for people like
me - it seems to be concerned more about people who are selling
goods, rather than those delivering services, such as hair dressers
- judging by the fact that they want you to produce receipts of
the things that you will be selling. "In addition, how will
I be able to produce proof of the so-called legal residence when
I am just a tenant who is not approved by the municipality?"
she asked.
Economist John Robertson said more illegal informal
traders would re-emerge because of the rising cost of living. "The
economic situation is dire, and the cost of living is bound to shoot
up and, naturally, many more people who were into the informal trade
will go back because they are desperate to earn a living,"
he explained. The current rate of inflation is 144.4 percent.
Makwiramiti said the illegal informal sector had
been thriving because of the poor performance of the economy. "The
challenge was not that these people were operating illegally. It
is important to look at why the informal sector had blossomed to
that extent, and the obvious answer is the crisis that the economy
is going through," he remarked. Since 2000, when the government’s
controversial fast-track land reform programme started, many manufacturing
industries, which had sourced their raw materials from the agricultural
sector, folded because production dropped after commercial farms
were seized.
The persistent shortage of foreign currency that
followed the withdrawal of financial support by the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and foreign investors had also impacted
on industrial production, which largely depended on imported raw
materials. Unemployment in Zimbabwe is currently estimated at 70
percent.
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