Because of the high levels of poverty in 2009, Zimbabwe was described as a factory of poverty. We believed, even until now, that this was a largely man-made, preventable and grossly unnecessary situation, the results of years failed policies and the self-seeking actions of the ruling political elites whose corrupt and undemocratic tendencies have worsened the situation by heightening the levels of inequality to alarming levels. The last decade has also seen massive attempts by the countrys ruling elites to blacken the ownership of the economic resources through dubious indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation. This began with the invasion of white owned commercial farms by supporters of ruling ZANU PF party. Now the Zimbabwean state has moved on to other sectors of the economy, including banking, manufacturing, retailing and mining. Companies in the country have been told to embrace the countrys equity laws, effected in March 2010, that requires large foreign companies valued at more than US$500 000 to cede a 51% shareholding to black Zimbabweans. However, there is no way that poor Zimbabweans, living on a hand-to-mouth basis, can afford stakes in such companies. There are therefore reasonable suspicions that this blackening of: the economy is just another gimmick to benefit the politically privileged few while the majority or urban residents continue languishing in poverty. Actually, there are reasonable fears that this blackening of the economy is only another form of ZANU PF-iying the economy. The economic situation is gloomy for, us, the jobless in the country in that while the economy has stabilised since dollarisation after the collapse of the Zimbabwean currency in 2009, job growth and creation have been disappointing. Zimbabwes recovery has been jobless. Job creation remains limited and the persistent high youth unemployment rate is a cause of concern and potential source of instability. At the same time, the central government has refused responsibility for the factors behind the poverty raveging its citizens, shifting blame to the targeted travel and economic sanctions imposed by America and the EU on high rankingy ZANU PF officials who have been blamed for destroying the formal sector of the economy and undermining democracy in the country. Poverty has become a major social problem in Zimbabwe. Sadly, by design of ZANU PF and/or state machinery, to perpetuate their stay in power, causes of poverty have been misunderstood making it difficult to devise strategies to combat the scourge. Meanwhile, the poor have continued to express themselves in domestic life and organised informally in the cracks of the economic system; they have formed associations for their own protection, betterment and recreation. What they do, however, has often been obscured, marginalised or repressed by dominant economic institutions and political/state ideologies. The biggest question is, WHAT WILL THE YOUTHS SAY AND DO? Indeed, we can no longer afford to be miserable about the past, neither should we be gloomy about the future.......
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:38:19 +0000
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