17 March 2009
As our diarist explains, one sign Zimbabwe has a new government in place is the collapse of its black market.
Where have all the hustlers gone?
The failed economy created hidden livelihoods for hundreds of people, mainly through illicitly trading hard currencies and basic goods. The bus terminus I walk past in downtown Harare used to be filled with vendors, dealers and money changers.
But since the unity government introduced its policy of dollarisation, they have suddenly disappeared.
I can now pass the bus terminus without being hustled. It’s amazing. But it makes me wonder: what has happened to these people?
My cousin is a teacher. During the strikes, like many teachers, he would supplement his salary by moonlighting as a foreign currency trader.
He says most of his fellow traders are now living under extremely difficult conditions.
Many are homeless, evicted for not paying rent. Some have returned to the food shortages and deprivation of their rural homes to rejoin the families they provided for.
Others have crawled under the electric fence to South Africa, the bright lights of Johannesburg – and its illusive greener pastures.
The new government has promised to resuscitate the closed factories so that people can go back to work again. To do this my million dollar question is: where is the money going to come from?
A marriage of convenience
I and many others are sceptical about the new government.
I asked my sister who left Zimbabwe many years ago whether she was considering coming home.
Her answer was swift and simple: 'Only when this marriage of convenience works and I see a future for my kids will I come back.'
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