Calls For Social Grants For Informal Sector.
Ronald Chigwada
Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET)
welcomed the call by Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) on government to honour its pledges to provide social grants to the informal sector during Covid-19 lockdown.
In a press statement released recently, the Commission pointed out government’s failed promises on disbursements of funds to the informal sector and its members who are mostly vendors.
Lockdowns have had a huge impact on small businesses with most of them still struggling to pick up pieces after the first lockdown in March 2020. ZHRC is urging the state to provide relief funds to the affected informal sector across the country as per promises made in the first national lockdown last year.
In an interview with CORAH, VISET communications officer Jabulani Chikomwe said, “Government needs to come through with social security for the informal sector to avoid vendors and informal traders going back to the streets in order to feed their families despite calls to help curb the pandemic”
As the 2021 national budget proposes further taxation on the informal sector, VISET calls on government to treat social security with urgency so as to ensure the sector’s growth and welfare of its members.
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) notes that the Food Poverty Line (FPL) is upwards to $ 4 670 from $ 3 279 as of November 2020. The majority of citizens earn a living through informal trading and can barely afford a meal with lockdowns
