adminHarare Bureau
ZIMBABWEANS have successfully beaten off the effects of illegal sanctions which have caused the closure of many industries by turning to the informal sector, where business is brisk with a turnover of $7.4 billion annually.As a result, the informal sector has contributed to poverty alleviation and reduced individual and household vulnerability.
This was confirmed by the 2012 Population Census done by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, whose report indicates that at least 3.5 million economically active people are earning a living in the vibrant informal sector.
This means that the informal sector is the largest employer, with a recent World Bank-funded FinScope study indicating that at least $3.5 billion is circulating in SMEs.
The 3.5 million people aged between 15 and 40 are employed in various facets of the informal sector, with agriculture topping the list.
According to Zimstat, about 59 percent of the total population (7.7 million people) was aged 15 and above.
The economically active population constituted 67 percent of the active population (5.1 million), and of this, 11 percent (567,941) were formally unemployed, while 89 percent (4.5 million) were employed by the informal sector.
Social commentators and economists said the growth of the informal sector showed that Zanu-PF’s policies were creating employers.
Economist Witness Chinyama said the informal sector was driving the country’s economy.
“The majority of able-bodied people are in one way or the other employed in this sector,” he said. “This sector is actually pushing our economy as it employs the majority of our youths.”
Chinyama said the government’s empowerment policies had deliberately grown the sector, but authorities needed to relax certain laws for it to grow even more.
He said the general mentality that the informal sector is illegal also had to be changed.
National Business Council of Zimbabwe president Dr Keith Guzah said: “The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act and Zanu-PF’s clearly outlined election manifesto create a conducive environment for business and employment creation through people centred policies, which have seen people starting their own businesses.”
He noted that the only challenge was elements working against the policies, which sought to propel the country forward.
Social commentator Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri said Zimbabweans had found alternative ways of surviving through innovation and employing themselves, following the systematic and calculated collapse of industry and commerce that resulted in downsizing and company closures caused by policies stemming from the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme of the 1990s and illegal Western sanctions.
“It is yet to be studied if these policies have pushed the informal sector, but when people lost their jobs through the Esap in the ‘90s and also due to economic challenges coupled with sanctions, Zimbabweans found alternative ways of survival,” Dr Mhiripiri said.
Online Reporter