Surviving on the Margins of the Formal Employment, an Analysis of the Life Experiences of Pensioners in Masvingo Zimbabwe

L Nhodo,F Maunganidze,W Nyamubarwa,G Marimba,S Gukurume

doi:10.19026/crjss.5.5536

Abstract

Without purporting to be a meta-representation of the life experiences of pensioners in Zimbabwe, this ethnographic study reflects on the challenges bedeviling pensioners, using Masvingo urban as the case study. The study therefore examines the challenges faced by the pensioners in Masvingo, simultaneously analyzing the survival strategies adopted by these pensioners to improve their strained livelihoods. The central argument is that the current macro-economic challenges in Zimbabwe have led to a huge strain on the livelihoods of the pensioners as well as economic marginalization, leaving them in a state of abjection, where they are struggling to meet life’s basics such as heath, food clothing and transport requirements. Notwithstanding the constraining effects of the said economic challenges, the treatise opines that these social actors have an avalanche of livelihood assets which they exude as calculative, strategic, rational and reflexive actors to deal with their constraining social environment. The study was grounded in qualitative methodology and unstructured interviews and focus group discussion were used as the main data soliciting techniques. Giddens’ Stracturation thesis and the Sustainable Livelihood Framework were used as the analytical lens for the findings made herein.

Highlights

Prior to the formation of the Government of National Unity and the subsequent dollarization of the economy in 2009, the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) was following a pro-poor approach to development which was informed by the principles of Growth with equity approach
What capacitated the government to provide for the needy during that particular time was that these programmes were mainly provided whilst the government of Zimbabwe was still in the middle income country bracket which made it possible for Zimbabwe to join the league of nations which are closer to the welfare state (Munro, 2001) This position has sadly changed drastically owing to the macro-economic challenges bedeviling Zimbabwe ever since the turn of the new millennium
The foregoing study reveals that the onset of the Government of National Unity, the subsequent dollarization of the economy and the abdication of the state in social service provision are inexorably impinging on the livelihoods of pensioners in Zimbabwe

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Prior to the formation of the Government of National Unity and the subsequent dollarization of the economy in 2009, the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) was following a pro-poor approach to development which was informed by the principles of Growth with equity approach. What is regrettable is that as the Zimbabwean government is failing dismally to ameliorate such livelihood shocks which are directly impacting negatively on the lives of the poor and vulnerable citizens, in the developed world the United States of America and other highly developed nations, entitlements are generally assured for the elderly and retired workers through various unemployment benefits This provision entails that there is adequate level of health care and food requirements for these elderly people in a very sustainable manner, a goal which is proving to be very elusive in Zimbabwe, where a significant number of pensioners are embroiled in a vicious cycle of poverty over entitlements. In time of adversity pensioners innovate and exude their creativity in devising coping strategies to circumvent the challenges they confront

METHODOLOGY ORIENTATION

CONCLUSION

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