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The engagement by households in the informal economy is not only a headache to local authorities in the developing countries but also heartache to the households themselves (comprising students, full-time street vendors, and formal private or public officials. This paper maps the diversity of ethical dilemmas which households and practitioners unde...
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... This reflects what are commonly referred to as "morality issues" (Polese, 2021) that arise in the interstices between the informal sector and the state. The sale of second-hand tyres by informal dealerships reveals this tension (see Chirisa (2009)), with these businesses providing low-cost tyres, job opportunities, and incomes on the one hand, while on the other the sale of worn tyres exacerbates risks for road users. Because we do not find any social science research on informal second-hand tyre dealers either in South Africa or elsewhere, only reports in trade publications and articles in the popular press, we heed the call of Kanbur (in Fourie, 2018) for "good analysis" as far as the informal sector is concerned and aim to provide a novel perspective on the morality issue as it pertains to informal tyre dealers and their role in the tyre industry value chain. ...
Faced with extraordinarily high unemployment, the long-term unemployed in South Africa increasingly have been securing livelihoods outside of standard waged work. Many are establishing unregistered, micro-enterprises that provide low-cost goods and services to low-income households. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of unregistered (informal) second-hand tyre dealers in three South African cities to better assess their role in urban economies. Interviews with informal tyre dealers were conducted to understand how their businesses are positioned along the waste tyre value chain, their prospects for generating employment, and their potential to contribute to product reuse and repurposing. By extending the useful lives of tyres, informal dealerships can be analysed through a circular economy framework that acknowledges their varied environmental, economic, and social benefits. Concerns, however, are raised about the unregulated sale of second-hand tyres, some of which are unsafe and pose risks for road users. This in turn gives rise to difficult trade-offs between on the one hand the economic and environmental benefits of informal tyre sales and road safety on the other.
... Spatial agglomeration of economic activities has been discussed, debated and narrated, yet, very few studies have attempted to derive and quantify the economic benefit that may arise or induced because of this agglomeration. The key research hypotheses emanating from this study are that, Chirisa (2007;2008;2009a;2009b; published extensively on informality in Zimbabwe and his works provide the basis for understanding the resilience, geography, behaviour, direction, and ethical dilemmas of urban informality in Harare. Inspired by the ground-breaking and follow-up work on classification of the informal sector in Harare by Dube and Chirisa (2012), this section focuses on the spatiality of informality and manufacturing in Zimbabwe. ...
... In Zimbabwe, informal entrepreneurship is now the most dominant form of economy that many households are relying on to earn income. Studies conducted by Chirisa (2009) and Dube and Chirisa (2012) in Zimbabwe revealed that many entrepreneurial activities being conducted in urban areas targeted income generation for households. These include activities by street vendors, cobblers, hawkers, foreign currency exchange dealers, cross-border traders, and various home industries such as salons, renting out rooms to tenants, part-time jobs, urban farming, carpentry, sculpting, brick molding and street car washing (ZEPARU, 2014:12). ...
Informal entrepreneurship is a source of livelihood which provides employment and income to poor households in Chitungwiza Municipality in Zimbabwe. The dominant entrepreneurial activities are street vending, foreign currency exchange, urban farming, and home industries and cross border trading. The research approach that underpins this study is a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative. A semi-structured questionnaire and an interview guide were the instruments used in collecting data. The study sample was made up of 156 respondents that comprised informal entrepreneurs, social workers, municipal officials and community development practitioners from Chitungwiza Municipality. The findings revealed that few informal entrepreneurs are benefitting whereas the majority are failing to improve household income due to stiff competition, limited funding, poor infrastructure and harsh municipal policies. The paper recommends that the government of Zimbabwe should build infrastructure (shelters) for the informal entrepreneurs in their designated area of work.
... In Zimbabwe, informal entrepreneurship is now the most dominant form of economy that many households are relying on to earn income. Studies conducted by Chirisa (2009) and Dube and Chirisa (2012) in Zimbabwe revealed that many entrepreneurial activities being conducted in urban areas targeted income generation for households. These include activities by street vendors, cobblers, hawkers, foreign currency exchange dealers, cross-border traders, and various home industries such as salons, renting out rooms to tenants, part-time jobs, urban farming, carpentry, sculpting, brick molding and street car washing (ZEPARU, 2014:12). ...
Informal entrepreneurship is a source of livelihood which provides employment and income to poor households in Chitungwiza Municipality in Zimbabwe. The dominant entrepreneurial activities are street vending, foreign currency exchange, urban farming, and home industries and cross border trading. The research approach that underpins this study is a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative. A semi-structured questionnaire and an interview guide were the instruments used in collecting data. The study sample was made up of 156 respondents that comprised informal entrepreneurs, social workers, municipal officials and community development practitioners from Chitungwiza Municipality. The findings revealed that few informal entrepreneurs are benefitting whereas the majority are failing to improve household income due to stiff competition, limited funding, poor infrastructure and harsh municipal policies. The paper recommends that the government of Zimbabwe should build infrastructure (shelters) for the informal entrepreneurs in their designated area of work.
... This era witnessed the indigenous majority manipulating the urban space where residential development expanded to accommodate the rural migrants. Administratively, there was a replacement by the indigenous authorities of colonial local authorities, where in practice of their colonial correction era they overstayed their honeymoon (Dube and Chirisa, 2012;Chirisa, 2009). Like other African cities, Harare became a city of people of all occupations calling for expanded infrastructure provision. ...
The state of the city of Harare in terms of its present general outlook and critical analysis of its carrying capacity as a colonial city tends to perpetuate an ingrained myth among urban planners and the common people alike that planning has failed the former so called sunshine-city. Yet such a view treats with amnesia the wealth in the elasticity of planning as an instrument for change as well as a strategic force to command and direct the trajectory of cities. It is in this context that this paper discusses the elasticity of planning of Harare as anchored on a complex but well-knit constellation of the factors of good urban governance and political will. These can allow for urban reform and smart transformation. A close look at the city after 1980 shows that the city of Harare has been subjected to much bickering, contestations and intergovernmental impositions of policy hence it exemplifies policy from above as opposed to policy from below. This is largely explained by the central government's hard and fast wrenching control in directing the affairs of the city hence negating the role of the residents' needs and wants. Recently the city has been facing several challenges, more than ever before, and the more critical challenge now is the adopted culture of colonial blaming rather that solving the deep seated problems of poor management approaches. The present study is skewed towards assessing the historical and contemporary socio-economic and political dynamics as far as they have inspired, championed, ignored, and arm-twisted planning. This has largely been to the detriment of the city. Thus, a vortex and maelstrom over the relevance of planning has been created which now requires planning to exonerate itself by proving its worthiness to the citizens and investors whose creeds and needs it has betrayed over the years.
... CALS, (2005) has noted that the majority of Ash Road women residents in Pietmaritsburg South Africa derive a living through the informal sector. This is the same situation in the urban areas of Zimbabwe, (Chirisa, 2009b). They sell food and merchandise and are dependent on jobs as day labourers or other jobs within the informal sector, where they are vulnerable to what can only be described as exploitation. ...
... Women in the informal sector are often caught in the crossfire of this confusion. In Zimbabwe the economic hardships brought about by Economic Adjustment Programme (ESAP) and the economy coupled with inflationary cycles and predominantly produced a socio-economic miasma (Chirisa, 2009b). A psycho-social analysis of the problems being faced by WIIS (Women in the informal sector) reveals that the informal traders are faced with a number of ethical dilemmas. ...
The paper characterises women in the informal sector in the peri-urban settlement by way of a case study of Ruwa. Qualitative methodologies, with a little mix of the positivist approach, were adopted. Forty women engaged in informal sector operations ranging from street (offplot) and on-plot activities were adopted. Challenges that these operators faced were noted as relating to elements (rain, wind, and the sun), service provision, marketing of products,and regulatory forces. It is recommended that all stakeholders dissect common issues and formulate poverty-tolerant strategies that are accommodative of the plight and challenges of the peri-urban women. Critical to note is strength of the will-power and resilience most of the
respondents displayed. The most important thing is perhaps of harnessing on this intrinsic
virtue to nurture and develop it for local developmental gain.
... The escape from official records implies economic leakage and free-riding. Chirisa (2009a) has observed that the informal sector in Harare, the capital city has been in a process of metamorphosis, with the actors surviving by this mode to living. They now employ various strategies, most to outdo the police who trouble them from all sides, evicting them from the places of choice. ...
... The majority of Ash Road women residents in Pietmaritsburg South Africa derive a living through the informal sector (CALS, 2005). This is the same situation in the urban areas of Zimbabwe (Chirisa, 2009b). They sell food and merchandise and are dependent on jobs as day labourers or other jobs within the informal sector, where they are vulnerable to what can only be described as exploitation. ...
... They sell food and merchandise and are dependent on jobs as day labourers or other jobs within the informal sector, where they are vulnerable to what can only be described as exploitation. The engagement by households in the informal economy is not only a headache to local authorities in the developing countries but also heartache to the households themselves... " (Chirisa 2009b:257). Women in the informal sector are often caught in the crossfire of this confusion. ...
... Women in the informal sector are often caught in the crossfire of this confusion. In Zimbabwe the economic hardships brought about by Economic Adjustment Programme (ESAP) and the economy coupled with inflationary cycles and predominantly produced a socio-economic miasma (Chirisa, 2009b). A psycho-social analysis of the problems being faced by WIIS (Women in the informal sector) reveals that the informal traders are faced with a number of ethical dilemmas. ...
The paper maps and the struggles and challenges that women in the informal sector face in emerging satellite towns providing a case of Ruwa which is located some 20 kilometres from Harare the capital city of Zimbabwe. The study engaged forty women in informal sector and trading goods and services of various
types with the objective of eking a living given the constrained job market dictated upon by the unstable macro-economic environment in urban centres and the country at large. Simple random sampling was adopted to cover street (off-plot) and on-plot activities by the women in the settlement. Besides, non-probability sampling applied with some of the respondents who the research interviewed to let
the story of the realities of the women unfold. In their struggle to eke a living the women face and have to brace with challenges including exposure to elements weather (rain, wind, and the sun), service provision, marketing of products, and regulatory forces. Given the macro-economic stability the country has been facing since the year 2000, some of the stakeholders like the town council and private actors in Ruwa have been on a precarious position to offer services. The industry and other employment sectors are operating below capacity. Despite this ‘freeze’ situation, stakeholders can still work together inclusive of the women in the informal sectors to create a forum of dialogue. Through dialogue, it is possible to formulate poverty-Reduction strategies that are accommodative of the plight and challenges of the peri-urban women and coin that in local developmental planning.
In contemporary Africa, urban planning and management are undergoing profound changes, shaped by the interplay of politics, environmental concerns, and the pressing issue of climate change. This article explores the evolving landscape of urban development in Africa, highlighting the pivotal role of political agendas, environmental policies, and the imperative to address climate change. It emphasises the synergy between urban planning and management as the linchpin for sustainable, climate-resilient cities. Using South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria as case studies, this article elucidates the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.