Discuss the causes and origins of employment syndrome among the indigenous

Zimbabweans?
Employment syndrome is the inclination of people preferring employment than being
employers. This behavior is due to many contributing factor to the native Zimbabwean people
which include, colonization, certain legislations, warfare, introduction of the money currency
and forced labour. These are some that are going to be discussed in this essay.

Long before during the pre-colonial period the native Zimbabweans performed various
economic activities which included the primary, secondary and tertiary industries which
contributed to their livelihood without depending on employment. Due to the colonization by
the white imperialist the native lost their ways of living and were forced into the employment
system through the introduction of various legislations.

The primary industries included agriculture, professional farmers were normally called
(hurudza) and these were the pillar of the society that ensured on food security. They grew
crops such as finger millet, rapoko and sorghum and many other. They practiced land
cultivation using hoes mainly made by the blacksmith. They also kept domestic animals such
as cattle, goats, chickens. Cattle was a symbol of wealth hence one who had more cattle was
considered rich. These animals were then used for various social, economic and political
activities such as lobola, tribute, and barter trade.

In the secondary production, they also practiced blacksmithing commonly known as the
(mhizha). They processed mined minerals from the miners into products that can be used by
various sectors of the society. These products included spears for the hunters, hoes and
spades for the farmers, cutlery for the women and ornaments from precious stones mainly for
the trading industries with various visitors which include the English and the Boers. These
processing industries shows that the native people invented various product for various
sectors.

The ability to perform various economic activities and the ability to invent various products
led to the invitation of different traders to the native Zimbabwe. This proves that they were a
self-sufficient economy which was able to trade with different economies and individuals.
They traded with the Portuguese, English and surrounding States. Traded with gold, ivory,
livestock, crops, jewelries, animal skins, metal and many more. In return they got cloth,
beads, new crops such as maize, and many more. They also practiced internal trade (barter
trade) within their economy which allowed everyone from different industrial sectors to trade
with each other such as farmers trading with their crops to get other produces from different
sectors of the economy.

They also paid tribute to their rulers which are the Kings and Chiefs. Tribute was paid in the
form of crops, minerals, tools, animal skin, jewelries and many more. Tribute collection were
then used for state business such as during droughts crops which were collected were used to
intervene and helped starving families. Payment of tribute was also a sign of loyalty.

The practice of entrepreneurship of the pre-colonial era was affected by various wars and
colonization by the white imperialist. The native Zimbabwe was weakened by various wars
and uprisings including the mfencane from the Nguni. When the whites moved into
Zimbabwe wars were fought and this drained most of the abled bodied men into the war with
the whites. The Anglo-Ndebele war was fought from 1893 to 1894 which means a productive
year was lost. The native were defeated due to the incompetence of their weapons and they
ended up being driven from their fertile land. The first chimurenga war of 1896 -1897, this
was a war which was waged against the imperialist government for regime change and land
rights but was in vain and the loss was tragic. These wars distorted the entrepreneurial skills
of the native Zimbabweans and when they lost in these wars they were now forced to work
for the whites.

It is also evidenced the oppressor drove the native Zimbabweans from fertile land into semi
and arid areas where agriculture was very hard to conduct since these areas were less rainfall
and also infertile, the tribal trust and land act of 1965. This act was to separate land for blacks
and whites. In 1969, they was the land tenure act this act was to separate and divide the land
in a racial manner. The whites were given the best 45 000 000 acres of land to share among
25 0000 whites and the blacks were given the worst 45 000 000 acres of land ton share
among 5 000 0000 blacks. The land which was given to the blacks was a small to share
among them as their population was good and infertile too. This created employment
syndrome as the native Zimbabweans were forced to seek employment from the white.

When the British colonized Zimbabwe they introduced the payment of taxes. The blacks were
blacks were supposed to pay taxes inform of currency and the whites were the ones who had
the currency which they had brought from their country to Zimbabwe. Thereby the blacks
were forced indirectly to seek employment from the white in order to raise money for the
payment of the taxes. Banks would give the whites loans at zero percent interest to the whites
bt the same banks could not offer the same services to the black people. This affected the
entrepreneurial of the blacks as they now had to spend many hours working for the whites.

In 1966 to 1979 a war was fought and the war is commonly known as the second chimurenga.
The war was to free the native Zimbabweans from the whites and to get their land back which
was taken from them by force. The native Zimbabwe won the war and they got their
independence in 1980. The government introduced many schemes which were meant to uplift
the entrepreneurial abilities by the natives. When the country gained independence, the blacks
got access to their fertile land and the government introduced the banks and programs which
farmers could source loans at banks such as Agribank, SEEDCO and many others. This was
meant to bring back the entrepreneurial confidence to the native Zimbabweans. The
government also introduced the industrial schemes and this means the blacks were now
allowed to open their own industries there by making them employers rather than being the
employees.

The government also introduced free education to the people as soon they got independency
as a way to get every Zimbabwean educated. The government also introduced subjects in
tertary colleges which would teach them about entrepreneurship. This move was to make the
Zimbabweans realize that can’t just be employees but they can also became employers. The
education was to also make them realize that they can also have their own mines, industries
and companies of their own and shun from employment syndrome which was brought
abought by the colonizers. The government also introduced organizations which work hand
in hand with the with people in the communities with the objective to uplift the Zimbabweans
entrepreneurial abilities.
References
L Cliff 1988 Zimbabwe’s success and food security in Southern Africa Political Economy
AM 1981 African Socialism Zimbabwe Publishing House
J Carrey 1994 African Perspective on Development British African
H Moyana and M Sibanda 2001 the African heritage, Zimbabwwe Publishing House