Zimbabwean economy turns many to gambling

THERE is nothing in Zimbabwe that spells a crisis more than a long winding queue. The zigzagging length of humanity has from time immemorial and recorded history - from the American great depression to Zimbabwe's food and cash crisis - epitomised shortage, desperation and a cornered people with no way out.

Someone needs to press the panic button because the queue is back in Zimbabwe: The betting queue. Like most of its predecessors, this queue is rooted in the economic crisis and it is here to stay for as long as the economic meltdown is not resolved.

Many hardworking Zimbabweans, who are struggling through thrift and sweat to make ends meet are succumbing to betting as a way to see through their dreams of a better life; hoping this vice could lift them from the clutches of poverty and unemployment. The sprouting of betting halls like fungus spores across the country should fill one with foreboding of dark days to come.

For in venturing to buy a better life, one may pick up a nightmare vice that, more than not, robs him or her of the little he or she has. Betting halls across the country are being filled to the brim with people who have fervent hopes of getting rich quick on their bit of hard-earned cash. Soccer betting has been on the rise with more than five halls being set up in Harare alone over the past year to cater for people willing to make a living or augment their poor salaries with proceeds from betting.

Peter Bar's Soccer Shop, which has two outlets in the capital is always a hive of activity as people from all walks of life jostle to try their luck in the betting game. Most people interviewed by the Financial Gazette said they were unemployed youths who are finding the going tough in a country whose economy is not rewarding, while others are employed, but the paltry salaries are not enough to cater for their day-to-day needs.

"I completed a marketing diploma two years ago, but I am yet to find a job. I am in desperate need for money to cater for my daily needs so I have just resorted to soccer betting because on a good day I get reasonable money that can carry me for a day or two," said 23 year-old Sean Mupfunya.

This is how bad it has become. "Gambling here is done passionately coupled with desperation," said Harry Ndlovu, a bookmaker and manager at Zimbets, a downtown betting shop that provides, along with slot machines, an array of sporting events to bet on including televised horse and dog races, European soccer matches and virtual video roulette.
"These people don't bet for fun; for them it's a desperate search for money to pay for household expenses," Ndlovu said.

The unemployment levels in Zimbabwe have reached record breaking point at well above 80 percent.  Qualified people whose education and experience would not so long ago have ensured security and well-being for them and their families, have been reduced to paupers with nothing to show for their qualifications.

In its 2013 election manifesto, ZANU-PF said its primary goal was to create in the next five years US$7,3 billion from the indigenisation of 1 138 companies across the country's 14 sectors of the economy. This will further create 2,265 million jobs across key sectors of the economy. Fast forward to 2015, the collapsing economy has dragged down many companies to the mass grave of bankruptcy while those in operation are on their death; their survival is more of a mystery than executive skill. The figures are staggering.

According to the retrenchment board, 100 workers are being laid off weekly, but it could be more than this since not all companies submit retrenchment reports to the board. A July 2013 National Social Security Authority Harare Regional Employer Closures and Registrations Report for the period July 2011 to July 2013 shows 711 companies in Harare closed down, rendering 8 336 individuals jobless.

Add an estimated 40 000 graduates from universities and other tertiary institutions from across the country who are failing to find jobs to the above number and you will have an alarming figure of unemployed people who end up vending in the streets or fill up betting halls to make a living.

Economist, John Robertson, said Zimbabwe's unemployment rate is very high at more than 80 percent with less than 900 000 people formally employed out of a population of 13 million people. "An estimated 100 000 jobs have been lost from 2004 up to date as government fails to create new jobs," Robertson said.

"Our unemployment rate is more than 70 percent due to the failure by government to create jobs for its people." It is high time government delivers on its election promises and curb rampant unemployment that is reducing its people to gamblers.