Zimbabwe's 'informal economy' keeps country afloat

Harare

DUSK falls and thousands of vendors fan out across central Harare. Through the night, they hawk their wares - vegetables, clothes, kitchen utensils, cellphones - from carts, wheelbarrows or even the pavement, transforming the city's staid business district into a giant, freewheeling village market.

On Robert Mugabe Road, around the corner from the city's remaining colonial-era luxury hotel, the Meikles, Victor Chitiyo has sold dress shirts since losing his job as a machine operator at a textile factory several years ago.