Gazaland – a bustling shopping centre in Highfield, Harare – is a true urban melting pot.
Among the hundreds of people that earn their livelihoods at Gazaland are vendors, shop owners, second-hand car parts dealers, thieves and commercial sex workers.
With the number of cars on the country’s roads always increasing due to second-hand imports, panel beaters and spray painters have never had it this good.
It is estimated that since 2013, every year has seen 60 000 used cars entering Zimbabwe.
A good number of these imports are used as pirate taxis – a lawless vehicular population that many motorists say is responsible for an increase in scrapes and fender benders on the roads.
One man’s accident is another man’s joy. And Mr Denford Manjengwa, a panel beater and spray painter, is a satisfied man.
“Business is good here, as long as one is professional and knows what they will be doing,” Mr Manjengwa says.
“Last year, the company that I worked for folded and I thought then that it was the end of the world. I was wrong. The closure of the company forced me to start my own business and I am happy,” he says.
Together with four of his former workmates, Mr Manjengwa started Dent Panel Beaters and Spray Painters, one of the prominent spray painting and panel beating companies at Gazaland. The company employs 15 skilled artisans. Although players in this sector are enjoying brisk business, a number of the players are facing challenges.
“It is good that I am running my own company and I am now an employer. We are, however, facing a number of challenges, among them the delays in the formalisation of our businesses,” Mr Manjengwa says.
Mr Joseph Chimuso, another panel beater who operates at Gazaland, concurrs with Mr Manjengwa.
Mr Chimuso wants Government to support this sector, which he says is a major source of employment.
“There is need for us to acquire the latest technology and without funding the majority of us are failing to modernise our operations. I am calling upon Government to implement measures that will make it easy for us acquire funding,” adds Mr Chimuso. Sunday Mail
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