Harrassment and hardship in the high density urban areas
October 15th, 2008
Poverty in Zimbabwe is compounded by a system whereby those who try to make an honest living are harassed.
Vendors are constantly looking over their shoulders in fear of being caught by the police. In town, people who sell airtime for mobile phones have to whisper their trade to passers-by in the hope that someone will hear and buy their airtime cards.
Vendors, mostly women, many of them grandmothers who care for their orphaned grandchildren, rise at around 4am and go to the main market in Mbare, which is also the main bus terminus, and buy vegetables to sell later in the high-density areas. Others sell small quantities of mealie meal, salt, sugar, groundnuts etc, measured out in little bags or cups.
In order to make a profit as well as cover their transport costs, they need to charge their neighbours a bit more than they would be charged in the shops. The majority of people in the high-density areas e.g. Highfields, Dzivaresekwa, Kambuzuma and the afore-mentioned Mbare, are living way below the poverty datum line. Thus, for a small amount basic commodities, they pay an exhorbitant amount of cash.
Accomodation is a major problem.
The hostels in Mbare such as Shawasha, Nenyere, Matapi and Mbare flats were built in the 1950s as single rooms intended for single men who would be coming from the rural areas looking for work. Now there can be up to 4 family groups and/or single lodgers sharing a room which is divided into 4 quarters separated only by curtains. Similarly in the shacks, which have slowly reappeared after the infamous Murambatsvina of 2005, household items, food, bedding and personal belongings fight for space.
Many children are not going to school because their parents/guardians can’t afford the school fees and moreover, children are needed to sell goods such as bananas, tomatoes etc.to augment the meagre family income. Thus, child labour is rampant.
The term income generation is no longer appropriate because in the present hyper-inflationary environment, by the time any profits are made, these are overcome by rising costs. It would be great if people could be empowered to help themselves but economic factors militate against this.
Despite the above, the Zimbabwean people have a wonderful capacity for celebration and an admirable spirit of thankfulness for the little they have. There are numerous stories of triumph over adversity which could, perhaps, be the subject of another blog in the future!
