It does not look like Christmas Day in Bulawayo, the second largest city of Zimbabwe, and its surroundings as Zimbabweans based in South Africa, popularly known as injiva, who normally spice up the festivities by returning in droves, are just trickling in.
The development has been attributed to the pricing system where the rand has locally lost buying power because of price distortions, according to reports by The Chronicle on Wednesday.
During this time of previous years, Bulawayo and surrounding districts, especially Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North and Kezi, Mangwe as well as Bulilima in Matabeleland South would be awash with South African-registered cars. The injiva would by now be driving around the villages, playing loud music and drinking imported beer.
But this time around, one could be forgiven for concluding that Christmas Day is months away yet it is tomorrow. Reports from Beitbridge said there is a drastic drop in the number of injivas crossing the border into Zimbabwe. Instead, there is a greater number of locals flocking to South Africa for shopping. Some Zimbabweans are also in a rush to Francistown in Botswana to shop for Christmas.
During the last Christmas holidays, the entry points were a hive of activities with travellers spending days at border posts. Imported beer used to be a preserve of the diasporians but it's now expensive to consume such beverages here. A can of lager costs10 rand (1 U.S. dollars) in Zimbabwe while it is sold for as little as four rand (0.4 dollars)in South Africa.
That means the spending power for injiva has been eroded threefold. The situation has changed now that the rate of inflation has skyrocketed and even the rand is also losing value on a daily basis.
Most injavas used to come home with 2,000 rand (100 dollars) and spend the festive season on merrymaking but now such an amount can not sponsor a night out for friends and relatives. Prices of basic commodities, which are pegged in rand at most "rand shops" that have sprouted around the country are far beyond the reach of many local people and those from the diaspora.
A survey by Chronicle revealed that injivas this time around resorted to sending groceries with private transporters popularly known as omalayitsha. Truck loads of groceries and goods such as fridges and beds are a common feature in Bulawayo.
Mthokozisi Moyo of Mpopoma who works in South Africa said he came home to check on his family once this year, although he used to travel three times a year. He said he could not visit home frequently because "Zimbabwe is too expensive."
Moyo said it was disheartening to note that prices of goods andservices were three times higher in Zimbabwe, compared to South Africa.
However, some locals claimed that they are even inviting injivas to come for Christmas at their expense.
Source: Xinhua
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