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Zimbabwe crackdown on street vendors and the informal economy: StreetNet responds StreetNet received an alert from Elijah Mutemeri, General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) on 13th May 2005 that the “ZCTU offices were raided by police. Mutemeri wrote “the police turned everything upside down in all Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) offices including my office. They are actually trying to say the informal economy association is a political party.” It was clear that the latest crackdown target of the Zimbabwe government was the newly-formed ZCIEA. A week later media reports and more messages from Mutemeri confirmed that informal traders were the target of one of the worst campaigns of repression yet seen in Zimbabwe since independence. The ZCIEA represents 4404 members from 80 informal trade organisations that have joined together to form the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations. The ZCIEA consists of informal economy associations from across the whole country, and has, up until now, been successful in negotiating with some municipalities on their members’ behalf. Mutemeri reported in an e-mail that “Zimbabwean municipal police have once again come on the throats of the poor vendors who are trying to eke a living from selling their wares, after serious harrassment of ZCTU and accusing the labour centre of organising the informal economy. This is clear evidence that they are also pouring their venom on innocent vendors. The destruction is so bad. Some of the people had used their very last few dollars in order to sell some wares. This exercise by police has spread into other small towns as well. They are trying to send a message that everything which is associated to ZCTU must be destroyed to the roots. Government is trying to make it difficult for us to continue organising. But what they are doing is actually strengthening the association.” …"The Secretary General of ZCTU Mr W Chibebe and (myself) the coordinator of the informal economy project were in hiding because police are hunting us down. …..” A report by the ZCTU Informal Economy Desk on the Operation Restore Order / Murambatsvina that begun on the 18th of May states, “No one was prepared for the sudden, extensive and indiscriminate nature of the clean-up operation. At first, it was the informal traders and structures that were targeted. The exercise covered the whole country, including the rural areas. Almost a month after it started, the exercise moved into business premises, with warnings that private-owned and municipal flats, businesses operating in housing areas will be next in the firing line. Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena described the operation as the second largest single activity carried out by the police after independence (The Herald, 2 June 2005, page 7).” Official justification by government was on the grounds that the informal economy was the “hiding place for criminals, people engaging in illegal activities and those who do not practise hygiene, thereby spoiling the image of the towns and country.” The ZCTU Informal Economy Desk Report continues: “The attendant problems are multiple: homelessness, starvation, exposure to cold weather and diseases, loss of assets, wares and stocks, loss of income, wanton arrests, transport woes, rising rentals as a result of increased and urgent demand for accommodation, and abject poverty. The ZCTU Informal Economy Desk Report describes the government’s attempts to window-dress its clean-up operation. “As an afterthought, well into the operation, government indicated that it had drawn up an elaborate plan through the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development, to relocate Harare informal traders who were conducting business at “illegal” places and council had identified a number of sites where they would operate from (The Herald, 2 June 2005, page 1)… These plans are part of an ex poste rationalisation exercise… . One would wonder why government did not plan ahead before the clampdown and why it did not move people into the alternative structures in a more orderly manner before hand. It does not make any sense to first traumatise people, and then call upon them to re-register for relocation (The Herald, 2 June 2005, pages 1 & 7).” Apart from the official clean up excuse, other theories emerged to explain the exercise. Commentators have observed that the informal economy “is simply a reflection of the state of the economy, and hence a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself. If the exercise were targeting criminal elements, a more selective approach would have been appropriate.” In this case, even legally operating vendors and structures were affected. Quoted in the report, the Mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, is on record saying that “We were generating a lot of revenue from the vendors. Bulawayo was the most organised city throughout the country in as far as vendors were concerned. We had put up shelters for them and they paid rent and licence fees to us. They were legal vendors operating within the confines of council by-laws,” (The Daily Mirror, 25 June 2005, page 2). The ZCTU states: “If it is an exercise in the national interest, consultations should have preceded the operation. The Mayor of Bulawayo made it clear that no consultations were held.” The likely impact of ‘Operation Restore Order’ on the economy can be gauged by tracking the role and significance of the informal economy. The ZCTU report states that the majority of people in this ‘sector’ are at the very bottom of the economic and social ladder, working under precarious conditions. The share of informal economy employment grew from less than 10% of the labour force in 1982 to close to 40% by 1998. Formal sector employment in Zimbabwe now accounts for 16% of the labour force, the informal economy for at least 40% and the communal sector for at least 44%. In such a context, the informal economy has effectively become the economy. It is currently estimated that no less than 80 per cent of households in Zimbabwe live below the poverty line now. The Poverty Assessment Study Survey (PASS) of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (1995) found that 61 per cent of households lived in poverty and 45 per cent in extreme poverty. According to the Monetary Policy Statement of January 2005 (page 48), the SMEs, informal and micro-enterprises sector accounts for an estimated 15-20% of total output (Gross Domestic Product). Most local authorities derive substantial revenues from informal activities. For instance, Bulawayo City Council was receiving Z$63 million a month (Z$756 million a year) from vendors, which it now risks losing following the current clampdown on the informal economy (Zimbabwe Independent, 10 June 2005, page 4). The ZCTU is currently assessing, in conjunction with ZCIEA, the impact of the clean-up operation. The report concludes: “Since government is dealing with the symptoms and not the real issues, the informal economy will rebound. However, it will take more time for the sector to regain its dynamism following the destruction of its asset base. It is easier to destroy than it is to reconstruct.” Update: Bulawayo Street Vendors take government to court and win One of the ZCIEA affiliates, Bulawayo Upcoming Trader’s Association (BUTA), has won the right to return to their stalls and places of trade following a high Court Case. BUTA sought a court order to declare the government demolition of the vendors’ stalls illegal and are claiming compensation for the losses they have incurred. On August 2 the High Court ruled in BUTA’s favour finding that street vendors’ stalls had been destroyed indiscriminately and that many street vendors had permits to trade. Robert Ndlovu, the lawyer representing BUTA, said that vendors had won the right to trade and were waiting for a certificate from the council. BUTA has 3 000 members, mostly fruit and vegetable vendors and market vendors at flea markets in Bulawayo. Source: report from www.finance24.com |
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