Lack of opportunities spark illegal activities in Zimbabwe

By Nomzamo Gwebu

Nobuhle Ncube (27), from Nkulumane high density suburb in Bulawayo Metropolitan province says lack of opportunities, high rate of unemployment and scramble for resources are the challenges faced by youth in Zimbabwe. She says as a result, many young people have resorted to survive on illegal businesses and other immoral activities in order to earn a living.

Nobuhle says as a young person, she is disillusioned by the prevailing situation in the country where there are no job opportunities and unviable platforms to start small businesses. She says the environment is especially disheartening for those young people like her, who have spent many years pursuing education.

“I completed a degree in Human Resources Management at a local university in 2016. I then embarked on a mission to look for a job. It was all in vain. After two years of applying for jobs, I realised that it was time to join other young people who were engaging in ‘hustles’ of all kinds just to get money for the day,” says Nobuhle.

Nobuhle says she was fortunate that her mother loaned her some money so that she could start a small business of selling Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which was now in great demand because of the erratic electricity supplies.

“There were already many people engaged in selling LPG. However I saw an opportunity that in our neighbourhood, there were no people engaged in that activity. I bought the equipment required for the business and my business took off. I expected a reasonable profit that would enable me to support myself,” says Nobuhle.

The business crumbled within a few days and Nobuhle says this was due to the ‘vultures’ who were always on the look out to enforce some by-laws.

“My business, like many other businesses in our neighbourhood was not registered. The process of registering any business in Zimbabwe requires time and resources. This locks out young people and ring-fences established businesses. A few days after I had started selling gas, some officer from the local authority came and demanded to see my licence. They threatened to confiscate my equipment. I was left with no option but to give them some money so that they could leave me alone,” says Nobuhle.

Nobuhle says she thought her problems with the local authorities were over when she gave them a bribe. She says she was shocked when the officials made it a routine to come to her place for the bribe. She says this wiped out all her profit, leading to the collapse of the business.

Another young person who has experienced challenges with the prevailing environment in Zimbabwe is Precious Tshuma (32) who lives in Pumula. Precious says she graduated from University three years ago, but since then, she has failed to secure any form of employment. Precious says she now survives by selling second hand clothes, alongside other women who have never been to school.

“I feel a lot of pain whenever I start to think of the time I spent at university. I wasted four years thinking that I would have a better life after graduation. The most painful thing is that employers in the formal sector keep saying they want experienced people whenever they are advertising vacancies. This means that we youths who are coming straight from university cannot be employed,” says Precious.

Recently, Zimbabwe commemorated the International Youth Day, a day set aside to bring youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrate the potential of youth as partners in today’s global society. The theme for the 2022 commemoration is ‘Intergenerational solidarity; Creating a world for all ages.’ The objective of the theme is to amplify the message that action is needed across all generations to achieve the SDGs and leave no one behind

For young people like Nobuhle and Precious, the commemorations just came and passed without any impact on their lives. Precious says in the middle of the poverty engulfing the young people, commemorations will not change her life and she has lost all hope of ever getting any form of formal employment.