Unemployment, underemployment, lack of access to land, lack of skills and old age, among other things has been blamed for this acute poverty. The informal sector has however served as a useful alternative to unemployment. Informal sector activities in Somerset include the sale of vegetables, airtime, firewood, alcohol, fat cakes, cooked animal hooves, heads, bones and intestines.
Takatso Dube has been living off the sale of fat cakes since she lost her job a year ago. Although she contends that the profit is quite minimal, 'doing it is better than nothing.' Clearly, most of the economic activities in Somerset are only for survival and not for profit. While several residential plots in Somerset are used as workshops for motor vehicle repairs, there are others like Dingongorego Tshedu who makes a living by renting out rooms to tenants. She confesses that she faces challenges in trying to reconcile the interests of the desperate tenants in instances where for example, one tenant likes loud music while the other prefers a low volume. This, she says, can cause unnecessary tension in the household.
