Plate 9.5: Gas Welders Working along Madzindadzi Road
4.5 Institutional Perspective Data Needs
This section builds up a case for the user data needs using variousnewspapers articles published in Zimbabwe between 2014 and 2018. Organizations such as ZIMRA, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and the SMSE are proliferating in most newspaper articles. Issues ranging from nature of employment to economic contribution and from behaviour to prospects of the informal trade sector in Zimbabwe have been reported. One reporter advanced that presence,
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let alone rising trend of informality is an indication of a lifeless economy (Lubinda, 2016). It is further reasoned that in such a failing economy, some level of permanency is inevitable and there is need for government to invest in training the youths since most informal enterprises die during the first few years of their incorporation because they lack the much-needed skill to sustain their businesses (Lubinda, 2016). This recommendation is a noble one, but very challenging to structure training packages before establishing the existing skills. A fresh study is therefore needed, to stock take current skills and establish future needs in as concerns advancing the existing skills is concerned. Perhaps, this may be established by ascertaining the education levels of informal trade operators and the kinds of training they received, and the sort of products they manufacture.
Concerning the magnitude of the informal trade sector, there is general lack of consensus in most accessible news reports since they are based on estimates (Lubinda, 2016; Musarurwa, 2017; The Independent, 2018). In one article, it has been reported that the informal trade sector in Zimbabwe is the 6th biggest in Africa. Contrary to that, it has been told that it is the second largest in the world. Regardless of the incoherence, there exists a common trend that the informal trade sector is very large and is dodging paying tax. It is misleading to establish a policy, legal or institutional decision in that environment characterised by estimates. What is the actual extent of the informal sector in Zimbabwe is now the question begging an answer. It is reasoned that the query of size emanates from the usage of questionable methodologies in estimating (Sengere, 2018). Determining the actual size calls for use of census blocks in studying urban informality as this gives perfect information as opposed to sample survey which is normally crippled by errors in sampling and bias. Establishing the exact magnitude of the informal trade sector is essential because it helps estimate the sum of money circulating in the informal trade sector because it is reasoned that there is an association between its size and
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income level (Musarurwa, 2017). The comparative proportions of the sizes of informal operations are summarised in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Relative Proportions of the Size of Informal Operations (Adapted from Finscope, 2012)
Size
Individually Micro-enterprise Small-scale enterprise
Medium-scale enterprise Percentage of
informal enterprise
71% 24% 4% 1%
Number of people employed
0 1 to 5 6 to 40 35 to 75
Comment The majority (95%) of informal enterprises are either run by individuals or have below 5 employees. Just a small proportion operate at small or medium scale.
Outcomes of the survey by Finscope in 2012 revealed the number employed by individual entities and their registration status. Following this survey, it is reported that 71% of informal enterprises are individually run with no employees, 24% are micro-enterprises employing between 1 and 5 employees, 4% are small enterprises employing between 6 and 40 people, and 1% are medium enterprises employing between 30 and 75 employees (The Sunday News, 2017). Further, it is reported 85% of informal enterprises are not registered and the other 15%
is registered with varying percentages of registration with different organisations including local authorities, registrar of companies and cooperatives, among other institutions.
Considering that this data was compiled in 2012 and that the informal trade sector is ever dynamic as revealed by numerous accessible studies cited in literature review, it is necessary to update these statistics by collecting and collating data related to number of employees engaged by individual firms and their registration status.
Provision of up-to-date, complete and accurate and complete data about business statutory requirements registration enables organisations like ZIMRA and local municipalities to
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approximate the amount of potential revenue they are losing because of incomplete or non- registration of informal enterprises. Furthermore, data employment structure helps organisations like NSSA in protecting and promoting welfare of employees. One newspaper article reported that NSSA is finalising the scheme for the informal trade sector (The Independent, 2017). Access to accurate and current information about employment structure in the informal trade sector partly enables NSSA to finalise their scheme from an informed viewpoint.
As explained in Chapter Two, various sections of literature have revealed that the informal sector is resistant to enforcement (Chirisa, 2007; Yiftachel, 2009; Varley, 2013). Recently, these behavioural tendencies were reported in Beitbridge and some parts of Harare (Zimbabweland, 2016). It has been recommended that authorities should channel efforts towards accommodating, encouraging and supporting the informal trade sector and not controlling, suppressing and ignoring it (Zimbabweland, 2016). Considering that the new wave is in the course of collecting tax from the informal trade sector, a virgin development altogether, there is need to accurately predict the behavioural responses by informal operators ahead of schedule to avoid resistive behaviours. Their likely behavioural response can easily be predicted using their psychographics as described by the TPB in Section 2.2.3.