Siden Zanu-PFs valgsejr i august 2013 har mange virksomheder valgt at dreje nøglen om og et stigende antal mennesker står i kø ved paskontorerne for at søge arbejde i udlandet. Det offentlige mangler også penge til at betale lønninger og den uformelle sektor er mættet.
HARARE/LOUIS TRICHARDT, 21 March 2014 (IRIN): A deepening economic crisis in Zimbabwe is worsening already high levels of unemployment and driving a fresh wave of labour migrations into neighbouring countries, say economists.
“People are desperate because of the job losses, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to penetrate (komme ind i) the informal sector because it has become oversubscribed,” independent economist Eric Bloch told IRIN. “The option, therefore, is to go outside the country and try to get a job there.”
Company closures picked up in the second half of 2013, after President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party won the general elections, and have continued apace (hurtigt) in 2014.
75 virksomheder har lukket siden januar
A recent survey by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) of its affiliate members found that 75 companies had shut down since January, putting around 9.000 bread-winners (forsørgere) out of work.
Bloch put current levels of unemployment at over 80 percent, although real unemployment levels in Zimbabwe are almost impossible to gauge (vurdere) because countless Zimbabweans make a living in the informal sector.
The textile, farming, mining, construction, printing and retail sectors have been particularly hard hit by company closures and downsizings, which were precipitated by poor power supplies, dwindling markets, and lack of capital to invest in new technologies and machinery.
Harare byråd ventes at fyre 2.000
Most municipalities (byråd) owe their employees several months of salaries and are struggling to operate adequately. They are likely to undertake even more retrenchments.
The cash-strapped Harare City Council, for example, which has an estimated workforce of more than 10.000, intends to lay off 2.000 of its employees, according to a recent councillors’ meeting.
Tobaiwa Mudede, the registrar general whose office processes passport applications, recently told the Parliamentary Committee for Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services that long queues of people seeking to apply for or renew travel documents were overwhelming his staff.
“There is a high demand for passports in Zimbabwe as people are leaving to escape the economic crisis the country is facing,” said Mudede.
“We are being overwhelmed by people seeking travel documents,” confirmed an official working at the registrar general’s office in Harare, who declined to be named.
600 pasansøgninger om dagen
“While we received an average of 300 applications per day during this period in 2013, and lower figures before that, the number has gone up to around 600 a day,” he told IRIN.
Læs hele artiklen: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99816/fresh-waves-of-zimbabwean-migrants-flee-worsening-economy
