Spectre of Poverty Haunts Serbia’s Poor South
By Zoran Kosanovic
Nis
07 05 2009 Hopes in Nis are pinned on state aid and major investment, elsewhere in the south things look worse.
Holding two cigarettes in her hand, a young woman in downtown Kursumlija, a small town in south Serbia, says she buys cigarettes one by one because she does not have the money for a pack.
In Kursumlija, a single cigarette costs four dinars. The owner of one newsstand says many locals are interested in such humble purchases. “People have no money, so they’re buying only a few cigarettes,” he said. “Some can only buy one.”
It’s much the same story in the nearest city of Nis. With average salaries of a little over €250 euros a month, Serbia’s second city, with a population of over 250,000, is not affluent.
Of the 170 municipalities and cities in Serbia, Nis ranks 71st in terms of wealth, while many municipalities in southern Serbia are way below, right at the bottom of the chart.
The current economic crisis will make things worse for the people of Nis and south Serbia, home to around half a million people.
Opinions are divided over whether dissatisfaction will spill over into the streets, as many workers and unions expect.
Municipal officials and some economic experts, hope the crisis can be held at bay with new investments and all eyes are on the government’s welfare programme.
Zoran, a worker in the Nitex textile factory in Nis, says it has been months since he last received his 12,000-dinar salary regularly.
The factory has been idle for the last couple of months, because striking workers are demanding that their employer pays outstanding salaries.
“My wife is not working. We survive on aid from the countryside because we are bringing food from there,” Zoran says, holding up a placard reading ‘We want our salaries’ in front of the city hall in Nis.
People in Nis who cannot get food from the countryside are turning to charity. As many as 2,300 locals in Nis receive a meal a day from the city soup kitchen.
“ My family have at least one meal a day here. My salary is so small, I can’t feed them on it,” one man taking a free meal explained.
The Mayor of Nis, Milos Simonovic, from the ruling Democratic Party, under whose office window dissatisfied workers protest, says Nis is facing a formidable challenge.
“We have to be prepared to make savings, reduce the local administration, and mediate between workers and management in order to save jobs,” he says.
The mayor admits the local administration has too many employees, but says they cannot lay any off before the government has unveiled its welfare programme for state employees, and clarified the exact amount of severance pay.
“We currently have 760 people employed by the city, but we should have 350 to 400 people,” explains Simonovic.
The mayor says Nis does not expect social unrest, as he believes foreign investors who have announced plans to create new jobs in the town, will not withdraw now.
Local people are expecting the start of several projects where pre-contracts have been signed.
France’s Sagem has announced it will open plants to manufacture electronic counters, with around 250 new jobs for starters. The construction of the new plants was announced for early summer.
Beside Sagem, another French company is expected to invest in the city. The mayor says the French DIY chain, M. Bricolage, will open a business and distribution centre, employing around 200 workers, by November.
The economic crisis has still not driven away Austria’s Eyemaxx, either. The firm signed a contract with Nis airport on the construction of a cargo centre, late last year. This project, worth around €60 million, is financed by Eyemaxx and the British investment fund, Chayton.
The cargo and logistics centre will be located on 135,000m2 and should employ over 500 workers. The mayor announced the beginning of works for June.
The director of Belgrade’s Fund for Political Excellence, Sonja Liht, who is involved in the government’s poverty reduction project, also doubts Serbia will be more affected by social unrest than other countries in the region.
“There will be serious discontent ... but that’s why it is necessary to have discussions on the problems of poverty and to include everybody in the fight against poverty,” Liht said.
On his recent visit to Nis, the governor of the National Bank, Radovan Jelasic, said the poor south of the country had not profited from the transition period, and that to revive the region the government should move its institutions outside of Belgrade.
Jelasic added that he also hoped to find a site for the construction of the National Bank’s central archive, as locations in Nis are far less expensive than those in the capital.
Union leaders in Nis meanwhile appealed both to local, and state officials, to help more than 77,000 workers who are in dire straits because factories are not working, employees are unpaid, and there is less and less work all round.
“The situation is so alarming that it could easily escalate into major unrest; we need state aid,” Milovan Petrovic, a senior official of the Independent Metal and Electro Industry Union, said.
The extent of the economic crisis in south Serbia is illustrated by Leskovac, a town of 160,000, where the number of unemployed has jumped in recent months from around 32,000, late last year, to over 36,000.
Another drastic example of the kind of poverty hitting southern Serbia, is provided by the experience of Milan Simic from Kursumlija. He was suspended from his bakery because he stole a loaf of bread.
Simic is raising three sons and had not received his salary of 4,000 dinars for five months before taking the loaf. He admitted the theft.
“I didn’t have any money so I took it. I am guilty and I am awaiting my punishment,” says Simic, who was re-engaged after a public outcry.
Although local authorities in south Serbia are expecting state assistance, Serbia’s former prime minister Zoran Zivkovic claims the authorities have no real plans.
He says the authorities are “too relaxed and advised that we get used to the crisis,” when they should have formed a crisis committee long ago.
“If [the late] Zoran Djindjic were prime minister now, a crisis committee would have been formed ... made up of relevant ministers, people from the National Bank, independent experts and… unions,” he said.
With low average salaries, rising utility bills and growing numbers of unemployed, even beggars are reported to have left the city, heading to the more prosperous north.
“It’s great here, people are generous and we can make 300 to 500 dinars daily,” a beggar on the pavements of Zajecar who introduced herself as Gordana said. “It’s hard in Nis.”
Zoran Kosanovic is journalist with Beta news agency. This article is produced through training of journalists in South Serbia made possible by the support of the British Government.
Training
Komentari:
Nema komentara.