Social security needs of informal sector traders at Mupedzanhamo Market in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Formal social security in Zimbabwe is mostly confined to the formal sector. This is against a background where for the past two decades, the formal sector has continued to decline whilst the informal sector has grown tremendously. As a result, Zimbabwe’s informal sector, which constitutes a large proportion of the employable population, has little or no social security coverage, as the current social security policies are covering only fourteen percent of the total labour force. This study sets out to ascertain the social security needs of the informal sector, exploring their shared and experienced risks emanating from the lack of social security coverage. The research focuses on informal traders at Mupedzanhamo market. Mupedzanhamo market is situated in the Mbare high density suburb of Harare. Through the adoption of the qualitative methodology, eighteen informal sector traders were purposely selected and semi-structured interviews held. The research findings indicate that the major risks faced by informal sector traders at Mupedzanhamo market include road traffic accidents, failure to access credit facilities, lack of old age, health, maternity and education cover or assistance, among other social security requirements. The absence of social security among these traders promotes perpetual poverty amongst them and their families in the event of a contingency like death or illness of a breadwinner. This calls for the design of appropriate social assistance and insurance programmes to cater for the different needs of the informal sector.