Urban Migration and the Burden of Informal Sectors on Zimbabwean Cities

Abstract

Over the past two decades Zimbabwe’s poor economy has influenced rural-urban migration for informal economic purposes, bringing about complex mobility patterns. In search of informal markets, people move from rural areas to urban cities to buy products for resale and then move from one urban city to another to resale the same product at an inflated price. This three-way informal economic migration has had an impact on cities such as Bulawayo and Harare, who’s urban plan still echoes the legacies of colonialism which aimed to keep the cities decongested and only saving formal economies. Urban migration into major cities has not only led to congestion of the cities, stifling of resources and loss of revenue by the city council as the informal traders are not paying council rates but it has greatly affected social cohesion. The aim is to assess how urban migration for informal economic businesses affects Zimbabwean cities and offer policy recommendations to decongest central business centers, create clean and orderly cities while benefiting from urban migration and informal sector without upsetting local communities. The focus will be limited to the city of Bulawayo, as it is the only city in Zimbabwe that seeks to redress the burden of urban migration and informal traders located within the central business center.