By CHUSA SICHONE –

Since unemployment is a global phenomenon, Zambia has not been spared and like other countries,  it has been grappling with the scourge that is on the list of social ills in most developing nations.
The number of people without jobs outweighs those in employment putting the burden on the government whose responsibility is to create jobs and an enabling environment for the private sector to supplement Government’s effort for job creation.
With the growing population, job opportunities in the formal sector are becoming scarcer compared to the informal sector.
However, since the colonial period, most people’s mind sets have remained skewed towards white collar jobs as the only way to earn a living.
This mentality of overdependence on formal employment has greatly contributed to the country’s high unemployment levels, with more young people who have continued to be offloaded on the market from Secondary Schools and other higher learning institutions.
Incorporating survival skills from lower level to the higher level of the education system,  is important as it will enable the learners make informed decisions on which path to take between the formal and informal sectors.
There are individuals who are alive to the fact that it is impossible for everyone to be in formal employment and instead of waiting for a job advertisement or alternatively resorting to begging on the streets, they have decided to utilise their God-given talents in the informal sector.
While it is difficult for some people to find capital for them to explore opportunities in the informal sector, others only require little or no capital as their talents are capital enough.

•Zulu has been operating from the junction of Chilumbulu and ZIPAS roads in Kabwata Site and Service for 23 years.

At 75 years of age and with a standard four level of education, Erasto Zulu  of Lusaka  is one such individual who doesn’t want to be a perpetual beggar or solely be dependent on Government for everything.
Mr Zulu decided not to remain idle after leaving Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) in 1985, where he had worked as a messenger for 11 years. Before Zanaco, he worked as cotton collector in Chipata for four years and as a game guide in Mfuwe for five years.
Mr Zulu, a father of two children and six grandchildren, decided to become his own boss in the informal sector using his talent by taking up shoe repairing business, the job he has been doing from 1992 to date!
“This job is what puts food on the table. In other words, that’s what keeps me in Lusaka,” he says.
Mr Zulu has been operating from the junction of Chilumbulu and ZIPAS roads in Kabwata Site and Service for 23 years, repairing other people’s shoes from 07:00 hours to 17:00 hours on Monday to Saturday and 11:00 hours after church to 17:00 hours on Sundays.
Just like any other business, shoe repairing has its highs and lows. On a good day, Mr Zulu is able to make between K55 and K70. On a bad day, he manages to realise only K20.
Before falling ill for five months, Mr Zulu was not only managing to fend for himself, the wife and six grandchildren, he was also able to pay K300 as monthly rent in Chawama Township using the money he derived from his business coupled with assistance from his grand children.
Unfortunately, the landlord evicted him and the family from the Chawama home five months ago owing to rental arrears, which he attributed to his prolonged illness.
“After being evicted from the Chawama home, we have been staying at my wife’s younger sister’s home in Kuku Compound for the past five months,” he says.
Now that he has recovered and back to his business, it is obviously that Mr Zulu’s desire is to be able to raise enough money to start renting again.
His wife is currently unemployed but is an active member of a named political party in Chawama Constituency. Their two children (daughter and son) are independent and are both divorcees.
Mr Zulu challenges able-bodied persons who are not employed to find something to do other than lazing around, waiting for Government to come to their rescue.
“Those who wait upon Government to do everything for them are just being lazy. God gave them hands and knowledge and therefore they are supposed to fully exert themselves and not just sit idle. No. What are you going to eat if you remain idle?” he asks.
Mr Zulu believes that he can work more effectively, efficiently and profitably if he bought a grinder, rubber and glue. He, however, does not have the financial muscle to buy such apparatus.
At the moment, life goes on for the septuagenarian who has defied the wrong notion that employment has to be in the formal sector.