Poverty and inequality in Zimbabwean cities

Abstract

While poverty has always been viewed as a prominent characteristic of the rural areas, it is also a reality for a lot of people in cities in the world, more so in Third World countries. In Zimbabwe 33 percent of the total population resides in urban areas and cities while the majority is in the rural areas. This article argues that there are very slim chances of reducing the inequality gap found in Zimbabwean cities since the rich continue to have an advantage over the poor as there is no effort to create programmes to effectively redistribute the wealth and the means of production like land and minerals. The influential, the powerful and the well-connected people in the large cities continue to dominate even those programmes meant for the poor, for example scholarships, farming equipment, land and mining rights, making the chance of equity and equality an illusion for the urban poor. Recommendations are therefore made that the decision makers and policy makers should be inclusive in policy formulation to include the poor at planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages so that lessons can be drawn from previous policies and improvements made for the benefit of the urban poor and reduction of inequality in cities. A comparative analysis will be made between the standards of living for people in Mbare a high density low income community and Glen Lorne, a low density residential area in Harare.