Urban Informality and COVID-19 Responses in Masvingo City, Zimbabwe: Questioning City Inclusivity

In many cities, urban informality is sidelined in the provision of services and development of the city. The outbreak of COVID-19 has called for myriad interventions to stop the spread in many cities. The big question in the city of Masvingo is how urban informality has been included in these interventions. COVID-19 has been on the increase since it was ever recorded in the city of Masvingo. As at end of August 2020, over 200 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded and pointers also show that cases are on the increase. Many people have been deprived of their livelihoods in the city due to the outbreak of COVID-19, thereby exposing people to vulnerability due to lack of livelihoods. The outbreak of COVID-19 has also resulted in closure of countless economic activities in the city, thereby depriving people from their sources of livelihoods. The most affected by the closure of economic activities are the informal traders. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has called for copious interventions to try and stop the spread of the disease. The study examined the inclusivity of COVID-19 interventions in the city of Masvingo to see how they include other disadvantaged groups such as the urban informality. The informal sector in the city of Masvingo is not included in the city’s COVID-19 response strategies. The city is mainly focusing on the formal sector in their response strategies, thereby leaving the informal sector out and exposing them to elevated risk of contracting the COVID-19 disease. This research examined the inclusivity of the COVID-19 interventions in the city of Masvingo, with special reference to the people in the informal sector. The informal sector, even though they live in cities, they are usually regarded as people living in the urban periphery because they are not included in the city’s development agenda and service delivery system. The research applied a qualitative methodology where in-depth interviews and field observations were used to collect data. Interviews were done with city authorities and people in the informal sector. The research showed that the interventions taken to fight the outbreak of the COVID-19 have not benefited the people in the informal sector but only the formal sector. The informal sector has been sidelined, showing a clear exclusionary urban policy. Their livelihoods were destroyed in the guise of preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, such destructions were not done in the formal sector which again apparently shows exclusive urban policy. The research therefore calls for a more holistic approach in the fight against COVID-19 disease for the inclusive of the city and the betterment of life for all people in the city.