Blighted Lives
No hope in sight for Zimbabwe's swelling jobless

5th May 2003

Norman Mutasa, 31, of Mbare in Harare, is a typical example of the hordes of jobless Zimbabweans.

He has been looking for a job for the past five years since his retrenchment in 1997.

Five years down the line, his hopes of ever getting one are fast fading by the day as more companies are down-sizing their operations or closing down.

Mutasa's case is similar to that of other millions of Zimbabweans who are failing to get jobs in the country as the future of industry and commerce looks bleak, gnarled by economic mismanagement.

Blaming the land reform programme for causing the current misery in the country, Mutasa, who is married with two children, said his prospects of ever securing employment were now very slim.

"The land reform programme has seen companies closing down as there is no production taking place since this country relies mainly on agriculture," Mutasa said. "As a result, very few companies are recruiting workers at the moment."

He said his hopes of securing a job would only be after a change in the government.

"It is high time that we had a new leadership in this country as the current one has failed us and we are facing more hardships because of them," Mutasa bemoaned.

"Things are hard for me and my family and I don't know for how long we are going to live like this."

He used to work for a food processing company.

Every morning he visits companies close to his Mbare home looking for a job, but so far all his efforts have been in vain.

Unemployment, conservatively estimated at 65 percent before the Zanu PF-led government embarked on a calamitous and chaotic land redistribution programme, has been rising in Zimbabwe as most displaced farm workers join the swelling ranks of the unemployed.

Economic experts put the unemployment rate at 80 percent.

Such a high figure has spawned poverty among urban residents as they battle to survive in a shrinking economy.

The plight of the unemployed has been worsened by critical shortages of basic commodities, which are only available at black market prices that are way beyond the reach of the majority in formal or informal employment.

Mutasa was one of the job seekers who were interviewed by The Daily News at the Simon Mazorodze Road flyover area on the outskirts of Harare's central business district.

He said he relies on his relatives for support to pay rentals and school fees for his child in primary school.

The dependency ratio among Zimbabweans has increased dramatically since it was officially put at eight people during the 1990s because of a shrinking economy. On an average a Zimbabwean worker supports more than 10 people.

"I don't know how long I can remain dependent on my relatives for sustenance as they also face their own problems." he said shaking his head.

His concerns were echoed by Thomas Mombeshora, 22, who said it was time the country had a new leadership.

"Life has become difficult for us job seekers as there are very few companies that are engaging workers even on a part-time basis and I think this can only change if we have a government with new ideas," said Mombeshora.

Mombeshora, who also lives in Mbare, said his dreams of getting a job and looking after his parents in Rusape had faded.

"I was hoping that one day I would be able to fend for my parents, but all that has failed," he said.

Poverty has reached alarming levels in Zimbabwe as companies, hit by the shortages of foreign currency and raw materials, continue to close or down-size their operations. About 80 percent of the country's population is living below the poverty datum line.

The government has blamed Western countries for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, accusing the opposition of working in cahoots with these countries to throttle the economy and cause civil unrest.

Only a fortnight ago, President Mugabe, in a televised interview, blamed two years of drought and sanctions for causing a stagnation in economic growth but admitted that Zimbabweans had endured a lot of suffering in the past three years.

Mugabe, however, skirted around questions that corruption in high places and a thriving patronage system, which benefited Zanu PF cronies, had played a major role in the creating the economic malaise. Resources meant for the benefit of the majority had benefited, but a few cronies.

Mombeshora was expecting the ZCTU leadership to come up with a strategy to safeguard the interests of the workers.

Workers world-wide celebrated Workers' Day last Thursday.

"The closure of the companies is putting the fate of the workers at risk and the ZCTU should do something to cushion workers from more hardships."

Most job seekers converged at the flyover in the afternoon after spending the better part of the morning looking for jobs in the industrial areas and the city centre.

Taurai Guche, 18, of Tafara said: "I cannot immediately go home as my relatives might think that I am not looking for a job. The situation is terrible and I have no hope of getting a job if things remain as they are."

Guche said the flyover had become a convenient resting place for the job seekers and already he had made friends with other people who come to the area after their futile job-hunting expeditions.

Last year it was estimated that over 350 companies closed down throwing more than 350 000 onto the streets in Zimbabwe.

This was hard on the heels of the chaotic farm invasions, which cost more than 500 000 farm workers their jobs, rendering them homeless too. The violent farm invasions cost about 40 lives, with at least 10 of them being commercial farmers.

By Lawrence Paganga - Daily News (Zimbabwe)