Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

Figure 3. Manufacturing Volume Index, 1964 to 1987.
120 •
I
I
s
- 1 — I — I — I — I — I — I — 1 — I — 1 — r — I — I — 1 — I — r
64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 7 S 7 9 8 D 8 1 62 83 84 85 86 87
Source: Digest of Statistics (Monthly and Quarterly) various years.
Note: 1987 figures based on author's estimate based on January-
August data and forecasts by the CZI and the Standard Chartered Bank of
Zimbabwe.
The s t r u c t u r e and ownership of Zimbabwe's manufacturing
sector has an important bearing upon both i t s o r i g i n s and i t s
e v o l u t i o n and thus needs to be h i g h l i g h t e d here. Although
Zimbabwe i s an A f r i c a n country, neither d e c i s i o n s r e l a t e d to the
establishment of the country's manufacturing base nor to i t s
expansion owe very much to the indigenous black people of the
country. Manufacturing has always been l a r g e l y owned, managed
and operated by s k i l l e d personnel from e i t h e r the s e t t l e r white
community or else owned by f o r e i g n c a p i t a l i n t e r e s t s which made
use of these s e t t l e r s k i l l s . The l o c a l black population was used
predominantly as u n s k i l l e d labour i n manufacturing up to the
1950s. Thereafter some openings were made f o r blacks to acquire
s k i l l s , although these s k i l l s were s c a r c e l y r e f l e c t e d i n wage
l e v e l s , status or a b i l i t y to achieve unimpeded upward job mobili
t y u n t i l Independence'3. The 1981 National Manpower Survey
recorded that w i t h i n the manufacturing sector, of a l l
P r o f e s s i o n a l Technical and Related personnel i n employment, only
36% were black, and of a l l Managerial and A d m i n i s t r a t i v e personn
e l , only 24% were black. As the proportion of black personnel
i n the e n t i r e economy was 49% and 21% r e s p e c t i v e l y , i t i s apparent
that d i s c r i m i n a t i o n i n senior posts was higher f o r manu-