Mphoko out of touch with reality

FEARS that Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko was out of touch with the plight of Zimbabweans, having spent so much time abroad as a diplomat, were confirmed last week during his charm-offensive in the Matabeleland region.

Mphoko (74), who has spent 25 years out of the country as a career diplomat, appeared to try a tad too hard to dispel doubts over his capacity to deliver as vice-president and project himself as hands-on man.

He only succeeded in sticking his foot firmly in his mouth when he expressed shock that able-bodied Zimbabweans have resorted to street vending for a living.

Addressing mostly party supporters at the Bulawayo provincial headquarters at Davies Hall, Mphoko intoned: "I have got my own views regarding vending where you find an able-bodied man seated selling tomatoes. There are better things to do for someone who is fit except for those who are indisposed and physically-challenged."

He continued: "You should wake up and see what you can do for a living. We cannot tolerate a man who is fit sitting down and selling tomatoes . . . No, let us do something better."

The bankruptcy of Mphoko's sentiments, uttered while seated next to Zanu-PF's secretary for the disabled Joshua Malinga at the top table, was manifest in his failure to suggest even a single alternative. That's because a legitimate alternative is hard to find for those who wish to eke out an honest living. Of course, life in the criminal underworld is an option, but sooner or later the long arm of the law catches up with you.

While he might not have meant it, the import of his comments is that disability is synonymous with inability; the most disabled people can aspire to do is vend as their physical challenges preclude them from other careers, unlike the able-bodied.

Needless to say, those selling tomatoes, airtime or hawking odds and ends on the streets are not doing it out of indolence or poor choice: they are a symbolic expression of the tragic economic circumstances wrought by nearly 35 years of Zanu-PF rule. Most people would jump at the chance of formal employment given the benefits and security it brings in a healthy economy, but with company closures and retrenchments being the order of the day, such prospects are increasingly remote.

Ironically, Mphoko's party has celebrated the growth of the informal sector, which it has called the new economy. On her countrywide rallies towards the end of last year, President Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace, admonished local government and the police for harassing vendors saying it was hard enough for vendors to try and put food on the table for their families in a difficult economy, and that the police were making their plight worse.

This week, while hailing Mugabe for "indigenising" the economy, the Affirmative Action Group executive director Davison Gomo said: "The truth is that most people are now vendors and we are saying they should not be chased away from the streets. We must change the laws and remove colonial legislation that hinders people from freely conducting their businesses."

To top it all and despite evidence to the contrary, government insists the unemployment rate is not above the oft-quoted 80% but less than 10%. In coming up with that figure, government considers men "sitting down and selling tomatoes", airtime vendors and street car washers, among others as employed.

If last year's trend is anything to go by, and economic forecasts suggest as much, more will be turning to vending as companies continue to drown in the sea of economic challenges buffeting Zimbabwe.