Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe University students graduating to be street vendors
09 Jun 2015 at 19:26hrs | Views
Its very painful and shocking when Zimbabwe now turned Vending Capital of the world! Cities and Towns now turned to a dog eat dog scenario as desperate unemployed Zimbabweans jostle for customers in the fast growing industry of Vending. It's survival of the fittest, children, youth, men, women and old people fight for customers.
Park your car anywhere in the City Centers and Towns now and see how the Vendors sprint towards it in the hope of selling their wares. In many Cities and Towns you will find recent University Graduates compete with old women to sell soaps, bread, fish, chicken pieces, cabbages, tomatoes, plates, dishes, second hand clothing and among other things.
Many Graduates from local University, can't find employment, they had no choice but to join in the Vending Industry to sell old clothes playing cat and mouse with the police. Many other Graduates that are being churned out each year, today's University Graduates already know that they are Graduating into obvious Unemployment field.
Many people who are vending have formal qualifications and are not vending out of choice but because of desperation. Given the opportunity they would rather take up formal employment. Indeed, many Zimbabweans from different stations in life have been reduced to street vending to survive the harsh economic environment prevailing in the country following the closure of thousands of companies in the past years alone that has seen hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. From qualified Professionals, to Graduates and children living on the streets, all of them are finding solace in selling various wares in both urban and rural areas as the deepening economic crisis continues to bite, with no respite in sight.
According to the World Food Programme, 82 percent of the country's population is currently living below the poverty datum line. Health experts say vendors are not only posing a physical danger to both pedestrians and motorists, they also apparently provide fertile ground for the rapid spread of communicable diseases such as Cholera due to the lack of adequate ablution facilities in the areas that they operate from.
An estimated 50 000 Graduates from Universities and other Tertiary Institutions are resorting to vending to make ends meet while access to crucial services such as health care has become a nightmare. If all these people are forcible removed from the streets, what should they do and how will they survive?
About 6,7 million people are said to be eking a living from the informal sector, where do they go? Hands off to vendors unless you create employment for our people!
Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Government failed to deliver Zimbabweans' needs and its now painful to our parents who are paying University Fees for us because at the end of the day, we joined them in the Vending field. The majority of Zimbabweans find themselves living in abject poverty and destitution simply because the crumbling and faction - ridden Mugabe and Zanu-PF regime has, over the years, practiced discriminatory policies that ensured that the wealth of the nation is only enjoyed by a few politically well -connected individuals who dance to the Zanu-PF tunes.
It is on record that the failed Zanu-PF regime has deliberately made sure that the Zimbabwe remain under - developed as punishment for the persistent rejection of Zanu-PF failed Government.
Yours sincerely with regard
Richard M Simango
+2778 760 9777
+2784 590 5664
Source - Richard M Simango
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