Zimbabwe’s middle class on the rise despite comatose economy

Zimbabwe’s middle class on the rise despite comatose economy

Country’s emerging middle-income earners apparently not worried by soaring inflation, which is currently hovering above 190%

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - Lilian Muyeni has never been formally employed, but the 36-year-old, who runs a thriving roadside market stall in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, says she now has everything she needs to live comfortably with her three children.

Her husband migrated to South Africa four years ago, when she was still nursing their most recent child.

Since then, he has never returned or telephoned her.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the young mother from making economic strides.

Now Muyeni says she affords shopping for groceries and clothing with her children just like any formally employed Zimbabwean.


- New breed of middle-income earners

In fact, Zimbabwe is beginning to enjoy the rise of a new breed of middle-income earners like Muyeni even as the country’s economy is in the doldrums.

Paying no tax, as many like Muyeni conduct their economic activities on the streets of Harare, many middle-income earners emerging from the streets say they are in fact making more money.

That has changed their lives, so many like Muyeni have said.

In a country with 90% unemployment, based on statistics from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, thanks to vending, many Zimbabweans like Muyeni have managed to upgrade themselves to middle-income earners.

Each week, Muyeni says she makes $120 merely selling vegetables, fruits, fresh and green beans and many other trinkets on the streets of Harare.

This means she makes around $480 each month.

“Every weekend I’m able to take my children out for dinner from my job as a vendor. When you see us dressed up for dinner, you wouldn’t be able to tell I’m the vendor you see daily on the streets,” Muyeni told Anadolu Agency.


- Rising middle class not fazed by inflation

Zimbabwe’s emerging middle-income earners apparently are not worried about rising inflation, which is now hovering above 190%.

To beat inflation, Muyeni said that alongside many other entrepreneurs like herself, they have had to peg their prices in US dollars, this as the Zimbabwean dollar every now and then gets eroded by rampaging inflation.

Currently, the exchange rate of the US dollar versus the local currency stands at 1:800 on the black market, while it trades at an official exchange rate of 1:408.


- Life-changing

Even motor mechanics in Harare have seen their lives changing for the better, including 43-year-old Josphat Bere, who toils daily underneath one car after another doing repair work.

Bere looks dirty in his overalls stained with vehicle oils and grease as he does his work at Gazaland, a famous informal joint in Harare’s Highfield high-density suburb.

But it is not his looks that define his now middle-income status on the streets of Harare.

Bere owns a Japanese second-hand C-Class Mercedes Benz thanks to his strides as a roadside mechanic.

Not only that, but he also now owns his own home, which he said he built over the past two years through the works of his hands.

Now his wife, Linet, at age 36, with the couple’s two children, brags about leading one of the most comfortable lives in a country where poverty is reigning supreme.

Even as Zimbabwe’s economy falls, many like Bere and his family are instead emerging as Zimbabwe’s new middle-income earners.

On a good day, Bere claims he takes home an average of $150.

That has meant that Bere’s family, despite Zimbabwe contending with growing economic hardships, hear about poverty from their next-door neighbors.


- Real middle-class suffering

The usual known middle-income earners in the country -- doctors, nurses, teachers, soldiers and police -- are all having to make do with the poor wages they earn from the Zimbabwean government.

Last month, nurses and doctors staged a strike, demanding to be paid in US dollars, citing the inflation-ridden local currency. But their calls fell on deaf ears.

Many Zimbabwean nurses like 32-year-old Neliet -- who declined to give her full name, fearing victimization by the dreaded state secret police, claim they still have to live with false promises of better wages from the country’s authorities.

As they wait, they have no choice except to meanwhile endure receiving the worthless local currency.

“There is nothing we are getting from the government. We still have to get the useless local currency in wages. And you think we can be middle-income earners by that? Vendors are the new middle-income earners. You can talk to them,” said Neliet.

A nurse in Zimbabwe currently earns about 81,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($251) per month, while a doctor gets 187,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($580), which the health professionals have said is insufficient to cater for their basic needs.

Yet an ordinary vendor here who has now assumed the rank of a middle-income earner like Muyeni makes close to $500 monthly.

Economists in Zimbabwe blame the government for neglecting to adjust the salaries of its workers in line with rising inflation.

“Imagine, roadside vendors now have better lives than doctors and nurses because they just sell their wares in US dollars, which have value. But nurses, doctors, teachers, police and soldiers are forced to keep earning useless Zimbabwean dollars,” Newman Muparutsi, an independent economist in Zimbabwe, told Anadolu Agency.​​​​​​​

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