By Cde Nhamo Taneta
Our beloved state controlled media, The Herald, The Sunday Mail, and ZBC have been wonderfully cosmetically portraying a picture of our nation’s industrial utopia.
In that regard, who needs the unsightly presence of vendors cluttering our central business districts streets.
After all, why settle for the chaos of informal trade when our industries are apparently thriving under the visionary leadership of president Ruka Chivende and his industrious comrades?
Take Willowvale Industries, for instance.
With its rapid expansion, one must wonder, why on earth are people still vending on the streets when they could be inside these flourishing factories, earning a dignified salary which exists somewhere in the imagination of state media?
Similarly, in Bulawayo, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and Cold Storage Commission (CSC) are supposedly roaring back to life, needing thousands of workers.
But despite these fantastic job opportunities as seen on ZBC’s prime-time bulletin, some people still insist on selling tomatoes on street corners.
Why choose vending when you could be part of this industrial revolution that is only visible in newspapers?
Over in Kwekwe, ZISCO Steel is working at full throttle—at least, according to official reports.
With such an industrial powerhouse in town, surely vending is no longer necessary! Job-seekers should simply walk into ZISCO, demand employment, and experience the prosperity that exists somewhere between the lines of government press statements.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa’s Precabe Farm in Sherwood is reportedly employing millions.
Yes, millions! Forget the unemployment crisis, just head to Sherwood and join the agricultural revolution.
And in Kadoma, the recently resuscitated David Whitehead Textiles is supposedly churning out enough fabric to clothe the nation.
Never mind that the only thing being resuscitated is the government’s PR strategy.
Even in Bindura, Gushungo Holdings, the “biggest producer of milk products in Africa,” is apparently employing thousands.
Why vend when you can milk cows for a living? And in Masvingo, Tongaat Hullets is doubling its workforce or so the headlines claim.
And let’s not forget supermarkets like Bon Marché, OK, and Choppies, which, despite economic turmoil, keep “flocking” to Zimbabwe.
Clearly, vendors on the streets must have sinister motives, perhaps a hidden agenda for regime change?
But the government, in its wisdom, has a solution, ban vendors!
Not because industries are actually hiring, but because unemployed people standing around might start asking inconvenient questions.
And as True Patriots we wouldn’t want that, would we?
