Egoli no longer the place of gold

Matthias Nkomo is a resident of Plumtree who worked as a waiter in neighbouring South Africa for over 30 years.

When he left Zimbabwe back then, Johannesburg was popularly known as Egoli, loosely translated to mean the "place of gold", a term that dates back many decades ago during the gold rush in Johannesburg.

Today Nkomo says things have changed.

"Johannesburg, as we used to know it, is now a thing of the past," Nkomo reckons.

Although Johannesburg, South Africa's commercial hub, is still referred to by many as Egoli, a lot has, however, changed, resulting in many people, mainly foreigners, shunning it as a preferred destination for a better life.

Those from the Matabeleland region have always envied life across the Limpopo River - attracted by the lives of injiva's (locals based in South Africa) that troop en mass back into the country during the Christmas holidays, driving different models of cars and splashing cash to showcase their successes in South Africa.

Driving top-of-the-range vehicles, these seemingly well-heeled injiva are never shy to spend freely and splash R100 notes with reckless abandon.

However, with the South Africa's resource-based economy that thrives on the fortunes of mining companies taking a turn for the worst recently, the allure of Egoli is fast losing its appeal among locals.

South African mining companies are currently reeling from the international decline in commodity prices, forcing them to cut back on jobs.

International mining giants such as Anglo American, Glencore, Kumba Iron Ore, Sibanye Gold and Lonmin have all recently announced plans to shed jobs.

Anglo American reported losses of US$3 billion for the six months to June 30, 2015, compared with a profit of US$1,46 billion during the same period last year. The company said it would also cut a third of its workforce to 98 000 through the sale of 15 assets and retrenchments over the next two years.

Lonmin, the world's third largest platinum producer, also announced it would shut down five platinum mines, deepening its job losses from an initially planned 3 500 to 6 000 jobs.

Media reports from South Africa also indicate that at least 50 000 jobs are at risk in the steel industry, with economists calculating that should the entire steel industry collapse under the current flood of cheap Chinese imports, at least 190 000 jobs would be on the line. Such a development would cascade to downstream industries reliant on steel production.

With the South African mining sector in turmoil, the net effect of this is that many Zimbabweans working in the mines will soon find themselves jobless.

Compounding the difficult situation has been the rapid fall of the South African rand against the US dollar this year.

This has reduced the buying power of injiva when they return home to a US dollar-based economy.

The rand currently is pegged at R13,67 to US$1, with economists warning of a further slide to as low as US$1 for R15 by the end of the year.

For the likes of Nkomo, the economic turmoil in South Africa has made it useless to remain in the neighbouring country.

"During our days people who were doing menial jobs could afford to support their families and send their children to school back in Zimbabwe," he said.

"It is regrettable that my children based in Johannesburg cannot afford to do what my generation managed to do, so working in that country is no longer enviable," Nkomo said, musing over the situation.

With unemployment as high as 90 percent in Zimbabwe, remaining in the country has also become another unenviable prospect.

The situation has left many between a rock and a hard place.

Mthulisi Dube, a quantity surveyor based in Cape Town, said that although Egoli was not paradise, there were even fewer opportunities back home in Zimbabwe.

Companies in July this year dismissed nearly 30 000 workers following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed employers to fire workers on three-months notice.

"For professionals, it is still the place for career advancement opportunities. Many Zimbabweans living in South Africa are studying and even Zimbabwean universities are sending their staff for further studies in South Africa," said Dube, adding: "For professionals, getting employed in South Africa is not a challenge, but securing work permits is the challenge. The difficulty is not getting a job; it is becoming legal in South Africa."

To worsen the situation, South Africa has tightened its immigration laws in a move meant to protect jobs from foreigners, following a public outcry that foreigners were stealing jobs from locals.

Sindiso Moyo, the interim vice-president of the Migrant Workers Union of South Africa, said Egoli was no longer the same compared to the past, but it still remained a place for economic refugees from Zimbabwe.

"While most people will not make meaningful development and advancement, they are still able to put food on the table for their families," he said.

Moyo also noted that while competition for jobs remained stiff in South Africa, foreigners with either scarce or critical skills were finding it easy to get employed, while those without these skills would do menial jobs in restaurants and domestic work.

Despite the shrinking space for making it big in South Africa, some remained hopeful that things would change for the better.

Deputy national spokesperson for the South African wing of the People's Democratic Party, George Mkhwananzi, however, argued that South Africa was now better than what it used to be 20 years ago.

"Zimbabweans who used to flock to Egoli were going there to do menial jobs which were plenty, but now the base for menial job seekers has since shrunk because those white employers are competing with black middle class who have no appetite for foreign employees," he said.

Mkhwananzi said jobs were still available in South Africa for those with the relevant skills and that there were opportunities even in the informal sector.

With Zimbabwe's own economic turmoil showing no signs of waning, it is only likely that the number of people heading down south would only increase as locals try their luck in the place of gold.