Opinion / National
Something stinks in Zimbabwe
30 Sep 2018 at 20:19hrs | Views
Riot police with batons and water cannon patrolling the streets. Disease spreading. Zimbabwe is open for business they say.
The most vibrant sector of the economy disagrees. Reports say harassed street vendors are piling up stones at night to fight off attempts to shut down their activities in city centres.
With formal unemployment estimated at 90%, street trading has been the mainspring of the economy for at least the last 20 years. Born of desperation, it is for many people the only way of scraping a living.
Now they are blamed for the failure of the state and accused of spreading cholera when decades of corruption and negligence have allowed the collapse of infrastructure and the pollution of urban water sources.
The comrades of Zanu-PF have sadly neglected the poor in their bold strides towards self-enrichment. Easy enough: just don't go to the high density suburbs to be reminded of reality.
Zimbabwe's street vendors, who include university graduates, have been an innovative resource, selling almost anything. But they may have been outpaced by Zambian vendors who have found a market for crap ours hadn't thought of.
Fearing the import of cholera, our Zambian neighbours imposed a regime requiring Zimbabweans to demonstrate they were not carrying the disease. They were offered a lavatory where officials would check their stools for cholera. Laxatives were available. The easy way out was to buy Zambian stools instead.
'I paid $5 to buy a teaspoon full of stool and it was tested and I passed through', said one cross-border trader.
Latest news however is that the bottom has fallen out of the stool market. The Zambian authorities have apparently turned their nose up at it, saying the whole business stinks. Zimbabweans will be unable to afford it soon anyway because President Mnangagwa says he's going to introduce a programme of austerity to help revive the economy. Zimbabweans are well prepared for it.
The most vibrant sector of the economy disagrees. Reports say harassed street vendors are piling up stones at night to fight off attempts to shut down their activities in city centres.
With formal unemployment estimated at 90%, street trading has been the mainspring of the economy for at least the last 20 years. Born of desperation, it is for many people the only way of scraping a living.
Now they are blamed for the failure of the state and accused of spreading cholera when decades of corruption and negligence have allowed the collapse of infrastructure and the pollution of urban water sources.
The comrades of Zanu-PF have sadly neglected the poor in their bold strides towards self-enrichment. Easy enough: just don't go to the high density suburbs to be reminded of reality.
Zimbabwe's street vendors, who include university graduates, have been an innovative resource, selling almost anything. But they may have been outpaced by Zambian vendors who have found a market for crap ours hadn't thought of.
Fearing the import of cholera, our Zambian neighbours imposed a regime requiring Zimbabweans to demonstrate they were not carrying the disease. They were offered a lavatory where officials would check their stools for cholera. Laxatives were available. The easy way out was to buy Zambian stools instead.
'I paid $5 to buy a teaspoon full of stool and it was tested and I passed through', said one cross-border trader.
Latest news however is that the bottom has fallen out of the stool market. The Zambian authorities have apparently turned their nose up at it, saying the whole business stinks. Zimbabweans will be unable to afford it soon anyway because President Mnangagwa says he's going to introduce a programme of austerity to help revive the economy. Zimbabweans are well prepared for it.
Source - Zimbabwe Vigil Diary
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