#ZIMBA
Demolitions
The informal traders at Gazaland
and other such places often face
the threat of demolition and
eviction, with the latest having
been in January when Harare City
Council – on a rainy afternoon –
destroyed vending stalls in
Mbare.
Government has never been
sincere, consistent, or
transparent in its handling of the
informal sector.
Firstly, there has been an
acknowledgement that the
country’s economy is now
dominated by the informal
sector, which contributes a
significant amount of money to
the Treasury and employs up to
nearly 80 percent of
Zimbabweans.
Yet, government has not provided
the necessary facilities such as
the basic things like proper
infrastructure for informal sector
workers to use.
All attempts to construct spaces
for the informal sector have been
half-baked.
Each day, police carry out raids
on informal traders’ spaces,
leaving them in positions of more
vulnerability.
We strongly recommend that
government, in liaison with local
authorities, should come up with
a strategy to genuinely formalize
informal industries, not just for
revenue collection, but for them
to be able to have security,
certainty and proper operating
facilities. Raiding their vending
sites and destroying their
operating sites an unfortunate
form of denial by government
and local authorities that
informal industry is here to stay.
Zero Social
protection
Zimbabweans have had to makedo without any governmentfunded social services. With
private medical cover being
beyond the reach of many,
including those that operate at
Gazaland, and the country’s
public health institutions
collapsing, many now resort to
backyard medication, which is
dangerous.
Vendors selling various
prescription tablets – often
smuggled into the country
through our porous borders –
have become a common sight,
especially in spaces like
Gazaland.
Citizens find themselves having
to buy these cheaper medications
since they cannot afford private
healthcare, or the cost of having
to go to a public hospital and
having to wait for a doctor for a
week while not getting any
medication.
This is the extent of the collapse
of the health sector and it is upon
government to go back to the
drawing board and realise that it
needs to reset its priorities with
the ordinary man and woman in
mind.
Talk is Cheap
Still on social services, many
young people are finding
themselves resorting to
substance abuse and this is a
story that, unfortunately, has
become a monotony, and yet,
nothing has been done at
central government level to
deal with it.
All that there has been are
‘calls’ and ‘campaigns’ to end
substance abuse without any
concrete action.
ZPP was concerned to observe
that an increasing number of
young people are being
arraigned before the courts on
petty crimes resulting from
their need to feed their
addiction to substances.
In some cases, as observed by
ZPP at the magistrates’ court in
Harare, courts are handing over
the suspects to their families
since government does not
have adequate rehabilitation
facilities.
However, as soon as the
addicts get back to the
environment that drove them
into addiction, they find
themselves back to their habits
again.
To show the lack of
commitment, the government
said in October 2020 that it
was ‘prioritising the treatment
and rehabilitation of people
suffering from alcohol and
substance use disorders as part
of efforts to mould a healthy
society to drive the attainment
of a prosperous economy.”
Deputy Minister of Health and
Child Care, Dr John Mangwiro
said this as he launched the
Zimbabwe Drug Master Plan
and the Treatment and
Rehabilitation Guidelines on
Alcohol and Substance Use
Disorders.
However, The Herald
newspaper reported that
between August and October
2021, Harare’s courts handled
over 100 cases of people
involved in substance abuse.
Harare has only two psychiatric
institutions meant to deal with
mental health cases