Vendors who sell in market places, especially places like Copacabana in Harare are saying they are not making profit whatsoever in as much as they welcome ZimAsset as a means of empowerment in these times of unemployment and crisis.
BY ROSINA T SHOKO
There is always drama at Copacabana market every morning when new and old small entrepreneurs hustle for tables to sell their wares — some will be buying stuff for resale from “dealers”. Fights erupt after finding out that the stuff they buy in bulk for resale is not worth the money they would have used.
A woman who could only be identified as Sheba, who trades at the same market and happens to be a teacher, said her only hope was “prayer” because “they” (money collectors) sell tables every morning for $2 and later on just after 10am “they” come again demanding $10, a charge one cannot question, especially if you manage to get a table because someone somewhere will be wanting the same table.
Even the market is now flooded and in most cases people are forced to lower prices in order to sell their wares.
A first-time trader who happens to be a graduate and preferred to remain anonymous said she was shocked because she bought her stuff for $300 expecting to get profit, but when she got in the market there were already some people with the same wares and they were selling them at a dollar for two.
“I wanted to cry,” she said.
Some people from the same market said such incidents occurred if one was new.
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Vendors said the system must see everyone benefiting, but there is a lot of corruption from “money collectors”, be it council or those they buy wares from.
Some businesspeople said they did not want to imagine what would happen if Zimbabweans based in South Africa were to come back home and join their line of trade.
They said they hoped they would stay there, adding that they feared they would cause havoc in every sector if they came back.
