ActionAid International Southern Africa Partnership Programme (SAPP-Zimbabwe) sources of income prior to the Operation. The primary sources of livelihood that have were cited to have been disrupted (73%) as a result of the Operation from the sample include: tuck shop ownership (9%), flea market (11%), fruit and vegetable vending (17%), offering accommodation (18%), cross border trader (6%) and petty trade (5%) such as sale of firewood. It is approximately 3 months since the Operation commenced and to date individuals are still waiting for police clearance, operating licenses from council, the construction and allocation of vending stalls. Considering that informal trading contributions towards the family are not large, the question is how these households are currently managing with no income for the past two months in such a hyper-inflationary context. 3.3.2.1 Remittance With over 3.5 million Zimbabweans living outside the country and diaspora, remittance has become a major source of income to households. This was investigated by the survey to establish the extent to which Zimbabweans were surviving through remittances. Only 3% of households sampled mentioned remittance as their main source of income. Disaggregated data by area shows only Bulawayo and Beitbridge were beneficiaries of remittance with 6 and 8% respondents citing this as their primary source of income. This may be partly because of their proximity to Botswana and South Africa. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that traditional links have been kept among these areas. The remaining areas recorded less than 2% of the households receiving remittance. No differences were noted for the vulnerable groups in all the six areas. 3.3.2.2 Begging Figure 6: Livelihoods prior to the Operation Only 1% (refer to Figure 6) of sampled households mentioned begging as their primary source of income. There was generally no relationship between area of study or vulnerable categories for responses obtained. Begging Cross border trading Petty trade Offering accommodation Skilled trade/artisan Vending Tuck shop Flea market 3.3.2.3 Cross border trading Cross border 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% traders are the main suppliers to flea markets. Until recently, cross border trading was predominately to South Africa and Botswana. However, increased flow of people to Mozambique, Zambia and Namibia has been reported recently. Some traders act as owners of flea market stalls. Shortage of basic commodities has also fuelled cross border trading, resulting in commodities such as cooking oil being sourced fom South Africa and Botswana and tooth paste from Zambia. Bulawayo (5%) and Harare (7%) recorded significantly high figures that were involved in Remittance Zimbabwe Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order National Survey Report 16