Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief 

EVERYDAY, Mr Nyasha Mutumbe (32) wakes up around 5AM, takes a shower as he prepares to leave his parents’ house in Makusha suburb in Shurugwi town to go to the city centre.

He makes it a point that by 7AM, he is in the central business district (CBD) so that he starts vending as early as possible.

Mr Mutumbe is no ordinary vendor because he is a person with disability.

He is wheelchair-bound as he cannot use his legs but is able to use his hands to push his machine to the CBD to look for potential clients.

Mr Mutumbe said he graduated with an Accounting Diploma from Gweru Polytechnic College in 2019 but hasn’t been fortunate  to find meaningful employment — a development that led him to turn to vending.

A Chronicle news crew recently caught up with him as he was doing what he knows best.

“Disability is not inability,” he said as he pushed his wheelchair in and around Shurugwi CBD selling sweets, face masks, scones, airtime and other items to mostly travellers.

Mr Mutumbe is running a mini “tuck shop” mounted on his wheelchair.

“My wheelchair does not hold me back from making money in these rugged streets of Shurugwi. I push myself on my wheelchair from Makusha where I stay into the CBD. I push the tuck shop wheelchair from street to street selling airtime, jumbo snacks, sweets, face masks and scones from a wooden counter mounted on my wheelchair. It’s no easy task but it’s doable and I am surviving from this. I make between US$150 to US$200 per month,” he said in an interview.

He said he was forced to turn his wheelchair into a tuck shop so that he looks after his family.

Mr Mutumbe said he has four siblings and he is the third born in his family. 

“I graduated with an Accounting Diploma from Gweru Polytechnic College in 2019 but haven’t been fortunate enough to find meaningful employment. I could not just fold my hands and not do anything. I can use my hands; I can push the wheelchair. I just can’t use my legs and using my hands and my mouth I go around selling things to my clients in and around the CBD,” he said.

Mr Mutumbe said working in the street jungle competing with able-bodied persons for clients is challenging, but he has created a good customer base. Many of his loyal clients, he said, look for him when they need his services.

“It’s a jungle in the streets I tell you. Every vendor you see wants to sell something and I am competing with able-bodied persons but that doesn’t deter me. It pushes me to think outside the box. There was a time when I made money from selling airtime. I then ordered scones to diversify but a challenge arose as I could not carry a bucket loaded with scones. So I approached a friend of mine who is into carpentry and he mounted a wooden counter on my wheelchair making it easier for me to roam the streets vending my goods,” said Mr Mutumbe.

He said he can look after himself and his family from vending.

“It’s not enough but I can manage. Remember I don’t have to beg anyone for money to buy food or groceries for my family. I make my own money. This wheelchair tuck shop is working for me,” he said.

Mr Mutumbe said his accounting qualification is also assisting him run his business.

“I went through primary and secondary education before enrolling for an accounting diploma at Gweru Polytechnic. With that I am able to run my business. For example, managing to make profit from airtime vending to adding other products. Being able to strike a balance between business money, profit and costs you name it. It’s because I went to school. So parents must send their children living with disabilities to school where they are taught life skills,” he said.

Mr Mutumbe said PWDs should stand up and be counted in society.

“The begging syndrome should be done away with. We must try to look for opportunities where we are as PWDs. Every morning I wake up around 5AM, take a shower and prepare to leave my parents’ house in Makusha suburb in Shurugwi town and head to the CBD,” he said.

Mr Mutumbe said he dreams of having a wife and starting his own family.

“Yes, I have a girlfriend and I spoil her from proceeds from my business. But I know my limits so that we don’t spend all the profit and go broke. We can’t afford to close the tuck shop now,” he said.

It is estimated that 1,4 million people have some form of disability in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was one of the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and remains one of the few countries in Africa with legislation that specifically caters for PWDs.

Former Senator, Mrs Anna Shiri (51), who is famed for advocating for the rights of people with disabilities, commended Mr Mutumbe for going against all odds and investing in his wheelchair tuck shop.

She said President Mnangagwa’s Government is pro-PWDs as evidenced by the National Disability Policy he launched last year.

“What more can we ask for? We have a caring Government and we have opportunities to grow. I commend Mr Mutumbe and all other PWDs who are going against all odds. It’s time we stand up and be counted,” said Mrs Shiri.

President Mnangagwa launched the National Disability Policy that was developed with support from various stakeholders including the UN.  It seeks to address the marginalisation and discrimination of PWDs, empower them to improve their own quality of life and enable them to contribute towards the national development agenda.

It sets standards for the inclusion of PWDs in all facets of life, thereby serving as an overarching policy framework on disability across all sectors, including the public, private and development sectors.

President Mnangagwa called for an end to harmful practices, discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion of PWDs from participating in different sectors of the economy, adding that Government departments should mainstream disability issues in their programmes.

He called on citizens to stop treating people with disabilities as charity cases but rather treat them as equals who are capable of productively participating in the building of Zimbabwe.

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