# I am not a criminal 2019

By Constance Chitombo

Following the unlawful removal of informal traders at Jambanja market in Chitungwiza as of court ruling of 2010, ZCIEA has since intervened helping them to regain their prowess through legal action.

ZCIEA’s legal representative wrote a letter to the Chitungwiza Municipality and Zimbabwe Republic Police ordering them to desist from harassing informal traders by interfering with their lawful business.

Informal traders who operate at Jambanja market were living in distress of being harassed by police and council confiscating their goods, destroying their stalls and some being arrested. The police  and council went on to give the informal traders at Jambanja a 30 minutes ultimatum to vacate from the market else they were going to face demolition.

ZCIEA in 2010 obtained a high court ruling which allows informal workers and traders to work freely without disturbances at Jambanja market and prohibited the municipality and their agents from interfering in any manner with their lawful business operations.

Chitungwiza Municipality has been collecting revenue from informal traders and stopped in 2017 saying they want to computerize them and numbering their tables but have to displace them from their source of living despite knowing the court order. They continued to pester them by destroying their market stalls and barring them from carrying on with their business activities at Jambanja market.

Through its legal representative, ZCIEA has intervened in safeguarding the work place for members at Jambanja and they are doing their business activities freely without fear from the police and city council.

One informal trader name withheld said that ZCIEA has indeed intervened and now they function at Jambanja Market freely.

“I am so grateful to what ZCIEA has done for us, we were living in fear of terror the police and council were displaying towards us by destroying our working place, confiscating our goods and displacing us from our source of living but now we are free to operate at Jambanja”, He said.

ZCIEA Secretary General Mr Wisborn Malaya said the organisation is indeed working towards its mandate which is to safeguard the welfare of informal traders by promoting and protecting their interests and hoping that the government and local governance will decriminalize the work of the informal traders.

“It is the uttermost hope of the organisation that the government of Zimbabwe through all the local authorities will come to the reality check of the informal economy’s contribution in the society. This should be realized through decriminalizing the work of the informal traders and cultivating a political will attitude to transform their activities” said Mr Malaya.

By Constance Chitombo

Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) Secretary General Mr Wisborn Malaya met with the African Development Bank (AFDB) consultant Dr Master Mushonga on the 26^th of February at ZCIEA offices in Harare to discuss on how to improve investments climate in Zimbabwe through public-private sector dialogue from the informal economy viewpoint.

Public-Private Sector Dialogue is an effective interaction and dialogue between the government and the private sector, including NGOs, It plays a key role in creating a coherent policy framework and effective support measures and structures for the development of enterprises and the private sector development is widely recognized by the international community as an engine of sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), the premier financial development institution in the continent, identifies private sector development as one of its fundamental areas of focus to reduce poverty and support sustainable growth in Africa and offers financial assistance through three windows that is: lending to the states, private sectors and grants to the governments.

Dr Mushonga was piloting a research on public-private sector dialogue and economic expansion in Zimbabwe after realising the need for a dialogue between government and private sector.

“We are conducting this research because after a round table meeting we held in April 2018 trying to understand their financial requirements and exploring ways to assist Zimbabwe’s economy especially private sector, we realised that the government and the private sector lack effective dialogue which makes each one of them understands their roles and responsibilities in rebuilding the economy of Zimbabwe, this includes the role of every player and informal economy as well,”

“The public-private sector discourse, is producing unique results in some African countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria and we saw it worth to conduct such a research in Zimbabwe and I already visited firms like Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce, and hitherto meet Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, MIMOSA, and Zimplates “,said Dr Mushonga.

 SG Malaya said ZCIEA is working tirelessly having memorandum of understanding with all local authorities in a bid to meet their purpose which is being obliged by the mission and vision of the organisation which is creating a decent standard of living for all Zimbabweans in a stable economy and alleviating poverty through transforming informal economic activities into main stream activities although the informal traders are participating in developmental assemblies, they are side-lined in countless things and criminalised due to lack of pro-poor policies

“We now have memorandum of understanding with some city councils and our Informal traders and workers are participating in the local governance issues that is attending council meetings, budget and developmental gatherings in areas like Guruve, Kariba, Bulawayo and Chivhu to mention just a few, Harare being the difficult municipality in the country”

“Even though ,the informal traders are participating in developmental assemblies, they are being side-lined in several gears especially the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) which was pronounced recently on the 31^th of January 2019, the informal economy needs representation in that council so that their gripes are well presented and taken care of by responsible authorities.” said Mr Malaya

SG Malaya concluded by suggesting four things that he thinks if the government do will boost the economy of Zimbabwe

• “I think if the economy  of Zimbabwe will grow if the government respects the rights of informal traders and support their business initiatives
• Government must separate politics from developmental issues,
•  devolution of power and investment in the informal economy are key,
• There must be bias towards pro-poor policies formation”, he said.

The informal economy constitute more than 90% of the working populace in the country in Zimbabwe. So there is a dire need of funding them to grow their business instead of criminalising them.

“The chamber that delivers

Mission :Creating a decent standard of living for all Zimbabweans in a stable economy

vision: Alleviating poverty through transforming informal economic activities into main stream activities

ZCIEA is an association which represents workers economy across the country.It organises, establish,promotes and protects the interests of informal economy traders

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton