Chart xii: number of respondents reporting various categories of employment:
De Doorns 2010.
2.
Employment in 2010: De Doorns
There has been a dramatic drop in people reporting unemployment (from 13 down to 5) and
self employment (from 37 down to 5) in this group, but also a very significant drop in people
reporting full time salaried employment. This is hardly surprising as the majority of the target
group are, by their very geographical location, involved in seasonal agricultural labour.
However, by July 2010, almost the entire of this group are likely to be reporting either
unemployment or self employment, by the very nature of the seasonality of the work.
It is also hardly surprising that the diversity of employment is gone: only one civil servant, a
nurse, is still in her profession, while the other 13 teachers and nurses are now fruit pickers.
The artisans, with only two exceptions (plumbers), are also now no longer utilising their skills
and experience.
The vast majority, 76%, report seasonal (weekly or daily) employment on the farms in De
Doorns – in all cases this is essentially unskilled work picking fruit, and has no job security.
Only 9% (11 individuals)report being in a permanent, salaried job – categories include farm
foreman, construction, shop assistant, assistant baker, IT consultant, gardener. This is a
drastic reduction by 70% from 2005, when 41 individuals were on permanent salaries.
However, OM cannot be given the full blame for the changes in working patterns of
Zimbabweans. As discussed in Part One of this report, OM was followed by other severe
economic blows, in particular the hyperinflation of 2007 and 2008, which ultimately drove
many of the few Zimbabweans still in formal employment, out of their jobs, as salaries failed
to keep pace with the cost of living. The following history shows how it was not OM alone that
drove one highly qualified Zimbabwean out of his profession, firstly into the informal sector in
Harare, then to Botswana and finally to South Africa and into fruit picking. He has made six
64
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents