Development Challenges in the Context of Zimbabwe

Living or subsistence wage is amount of income needed to maintain basic standard of living. Theoretically, this wage should bring people out of poverty if implemented. The real take home wage for most workers are far below this ‘utopic’ living wage. Absence of living wage for most workers has been recognized as a contributing factor to the difficult task of upward social mobility with resultant diminishing equality of opportunity and relative poverty for most workers in this country today. The concept of working poor is born out of this dystopic social stratification. The threat this and other social determinant factors posed to the realization of the lofty goal of ‘American Dream’ are the subject of this paper.

Middle-class workers can no longer compete for the those positions of high rank as the education becomes too expensive and too strenuous, therefore they must maintain their current position or risk falling victim to poverty. Following generations are further affected by such a cycle; those born into wealth inherit the private property, but those who are born into the low-income family have less opportunity to overcome the existing gap.

Historically, the South African economy has been largely unstable mostly due to political issues. Although, considering its counterparts, South Africa shows the most promise for economic development and growth (Jordaan, 2010 pg.5). In 1990 South Africa entered the global market after overcoming major political issues such as apartheid. Many economists agree that the changes the South African government has made to be able to compete globally, are for the better (Wessel, 2007). In the article “CAPITAL: Globalization Brings South

I agree, that economical inequality brings the social inequality, where as a result, we would have a society of unequal opportunities. And this situation directly influence the future of the children, their chances to succeed in their lives and careers. We can clearly see that children with high status are

lower class struggle and work harder for their money. In documents 1,2,3, and 8 it shows that it affected

And this is why the cycle of poverty is so hard to break; since every penny they make is spent on everyday needs, nothing is left to act as a support system for them when they fall (getting fired, major crisis, etc.).

overcome barriers and fully take part in the globalised economy. In much of Africa however this was held up

The political and economical issues spread beyond the government and to the community in Zimbabwe. For 15 years prior, the economy is Zimbabwe had been slowly fading but after the recent election the unemployment rate rose to eighty percent (“Govt” 1, 2). The number for jobless people increased to a massive number of nearly 200,000 making the eleventh year high up to 3.33 million (“Bankruptcies” 1, 2). This made it extremely challenging for families to afford things like education, health care, and even housing. As a result, this forced people to turn to crime and corruption just to try and make a living. While the citizens were turning to crime, the government was wasting all it’s money for personal needs. It was also discovered that the government had been paying more than 40,000 to what was referred to as “ghost workers” appearing on their payroll (“Govt” 1, 2). As a result of this, Zimbabwe was part of a huge fraud situation with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance. They were accounted for seventy-four cents for all fraud counts (“Our” 1). Soon after this scandal, Zimbabwe had no choice but to declare bankruptcy making the country record, 1082 bankruptcies as of 2008 (“Bankruptcies” 1, 2). After the fraud situation the government tried to cover up by creating an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The government was interested in fixing

Not receiving an education is just one disadvantage for girls in Zimbabwe. Other disadvantages include being married off before they even turn fifteen, seventy thousand girls are raped and exposed to unequal cultural practices annually, and lastly girls are treated as nothing. If they were in poverty most times they would exchange girls for food. The normal social practice says that only the oldest male will receive an education. For someday he will be head of the family, this was many years ago but since then the government has tried to make many attempts to stop gender inequality. This includes making laws that state no employer can discriminate against someone because of their race, sex, political opinion, or place of origin. There was also a policy created in 2004, The National Gender Policy. The goal for this was to eliminate all and any inequality between genders. Although the government has made some attempts to address the issues of gender inequality the problem continues to persist as the norm in Zimbabwe as well as many other

Once a you become unemployed, however, you become powerless, desperate for any source of an income. Once in this position, an individual is likely to take a job which is below their capabilities and for less pay.  The difference in class and standing continues to increase. Those with money have the luxury of waiting for a job that strikes their interest, not just a job to make minimum wage.  They can wait until an appropriate job comes up or they can further their education to improve their position even more. Economically, the world is entering into a new phase in which fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population.  For most of the modern era, people's worth has been determined by the value of their labor and skills.

This period in Zimbabwe’s history saw a big influx of white settlers. The post world war II era saw the rise of the African middle class who were educated and acquired positions and jobs such as professors, doctors, engineers etc.

“Proponents and analysts of SD [sustainable development] need to clearly reject the attempts to focus on economic growth as a means to poverty removal and/or environmental sustainability” (Lele 1991: 618). Do you agree with this statement? Explain your position.

Afternoon once again some more on Zimbabwe...DISCUSS THE RISE AND EXPANSION OF THE MUTAPA STATE. (NOV 2008)

South Africa is integrated highly into the world economy. South Africa is the strongest African economy and has attained positions like being a member of G8 .All these are as a result of globalization. Globalization has had an impact on the economy, the government and social nature resulting to some effects. The paper will look at how globalization has affected South Africa under several categories. It will also give an explanation on the actions of successful global business leaders on improving conditions that have been worsened by globalization.

The concept of globalization has become a prevalent phenomenon in the past two decades because of the changes it has brought and the adoption of its strategies by multinational corporations or companies. The economic changes of globalization include the strengthening of economic inter-dependence, internationalization of production, and enhanced mobility of transnational corporations. On the other hand, trade liberalization, privatization, and deregulation are the ideological changes emanating from this concept.