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traders need cash to finance their operations is undeniable, but that they also require business ethics is a factor not worth ignoring.
There is just no sense of belonging. It’s a dog eat dog affair. The skewed “each man for himself and God for us all” mantra is eating into the core of indigenisation.
People are committing valuable time to laughing at each other at the expense of production.
So given to pulling each other down are members of the informal sector that they take 10 steps backwards whenever they intend to take one forward.
It matters less whether these people are selling goats, chickens or firewood. Whether one is a carpenter, motor mechanic, plumber or electrician counts less.
N’angas, prostitutes, prophets and florists do the same.
“Akachaisa, ibharanzi, zobha, akadhibha, akableya, mu14,” you hear people saying of each other without seeking a solution to the problem.
Money meant for business expansion is splashed on trinkets. Funeral parties are common whenever a colleague dies. Moneychangers and hewers of wood unfortunately also fall into this category. Housemaids are also in the informal sector. Sadza vendors are permanent members. Out of ignorance, players in the informal sector arm the unsuspecting public with weapons for their destruction. Others slash prices of their products and services to below break even point just to spite a rival.
“You can give me even quarter of the price he was asking for. My products are of a superior quality. Tinoronga kuti mufare,” you hear an informal trader saying to a customer just to get money to spoil a girlfriend over lunch. It is quite disheartening gentle reader, that the informal sector is awash with people willing to work for nothing as long as they have cash in the pocket.
Poor marketing skills and lack of knowledge force most traders to incur losses, fearing that charging more would drive customers away. Whether the money they charge covers the cost of raw materials and labour is not taken into account.
“Hey you girls come and kiss me. I will pay you handsomely. I am a powerful man in as far as cash is concerned. Ndine shagi rakawanda sejecha regungwa,” you see people undoing themselves in public.
Out of an undying edge to spite one another, some informal traders offer stall owners more in rent resulting in financial problems that will in the end result in the business going under. There is also a big constituency of small-scale traders which does not understand why it is in business.
Instead of concentrating on production, such traders have turned their stalls into places of gambling and wild drinking parties. Whenever they sell a chair, all the money is counted as profit and put to the sword without leaving some for raw materials.
Some stalls have also been turned into places where people prepare sadza and potfuls of meat at the expense of production.
“Hapana chekutya babamukuru. Nyika ndeyedu. Idya uchiri mupenyu usazotinetsa wafa womuka chipoko. Mari haipere. Inopera yabiwa,” the guys are often fond of saying. Some will commit all their bank loans to cars at the expense of machinery for production. Child bearing has also become a major pre-occupation for some traders. They view every woman near them as a child bearing machine, ignoring the strain maintenance payments exert on business.
“Aka kachimoko kangu, kasmall house. Tine madhonhi two but ndeimwe iya iya yekuti waifazi haipiwe getsi kuti ndeipi,” the guys often brag without appreciating that the same behaviour is akin to attempting to fill a bottomless drum with water using a perforated container. Unonyura chete. Gold diggers are not to be outdone. They are flocking to informal traders who now have huge financial access courtesy of countless credit schemes set up for their benefit.
But the truth of the matter is that such schemes are not benefiting the economy at all. All that money is going down the drain. Kusungirira mari mugumbo rengwe. There is also a good number who use unpolished language that chases customers away while others shoot themselves in the foot by charging prices that are not economically viable.
“Ah ah ah. Ambuya . . . who once repaired this stove. The kind of workmanship I see here shows he was just chancing it. God loves you because at least you have called someone who will fix this problem once and for all,” electricians are often heard, assassinating the character of someone in a bid to widen their customers’ base.
“The way for engine sounds shows that it is out of timing. Your mechanic appears to have used the wrong settings all together because of laziness. Had I not discovered this, you would have damaged the head cylinder,” mechanics usually say.
Vendors also do the same.
“Those leaf vegetables are just not suitable for human consumption. Whoever produced them used a lot of fertiliser which makes them poisonous. Don’t buy vegetables from people who run around the community sweating on them.” Gentle reader, those into carpentry, mechanics and panel beating also need to apply a bit of seriousness to their work.
Some of the goods they produce are just substandard. You sometimes meet them in town selling a four-legged chair whose legs are not even. The workmanship is done so poorly that you end up thinking that everything done by the informal sector is of questionable quality. You are lucky to open some of the drawers of the wardrobes these men produce. It’s not a one size fits all affair, but a good number of informal traders just produce rubbish. The panel beaters will repair your car using wrong material and different tints and proceed to demand payment in full. If you happen to pay cash to most informal traders, you would have invited trouble. Some will not do the job and end up assaulting you and whoever cares to ask when the goods will be delivered.
The moment you pay cash, some traders will tell you of one funeral after the other and tear their trousers in the middle running away from you. A friend of mine who was an informal trader was never short of cash. He would simply collect deposits from all over town and splash these on beer and women.
Builders are also among cheaters. They will demand more bricks and cement before proceeding to sell these to raise more cash for themselves. If you happen to have your daughter cook for them, they will dupe her and leave her pregnant. Others will even direct their efforts towards your wife and if she is of loose morals they will get their way through.
But it’s not all lost, there is vast room for recovery.