Opinion / Columnist
Returning diasporans will pressure Zim to take good governance serious
23 Jul 2014 at 20:32hrs | Views
Botswana's defence minister Ramadeluka Seretse was quoted in the press saying it was now safe for Zimbabweans to return to their country because the situation had improved.
SA will decide next month what to do about 250 000 Zimbabweans whose work permit will expire this year alone. If the decision is not to renew the permit then that will mean a quarter of a million more people on the unemployed mountain or else join the overflowing informal sector, kiya kiya.
Mugabe announced at the burial of another hero that the British are seeking his assistance in expatriating "failed asylum" seekers.
Death like poverty clearly has no respect for the grandeur of being a Zanu-PF grandee. The late Shamuyarira was a victim of the regime's failed rule just like the rest of us. He lived the last years of his life in abject poverty and died a pauper. Life expectancy has dropped from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years in 2004, the last time accurate data was available. Death, the grim riper, has played havoc amongst us the masses but he has not spared Zanu-PF grandees either, not all of them can afford to go to Singapore with functioning hospitals. President Mugabe has been spending a lot of time burying his Zanu-PF grandee and used the last occasion to poke Zimbabweans in the diaspora in the eye!
"Mukapihwa kamari kakati, ah chava chichemo, hurumende yakashata, haisi nyika ino'. (If you are offered some small money you turn against the government alleging the country was badly governed.) Said President Mugabe at the burial of Major General Eliah Bandama, he was 56 years old.
"Kareko, haiwa votsvaga passport tovapa voenda kuBritain ivava; 'ah vaMugabe vari kutidzvanyirira, vaMugabe aiwa tiri kuiswa mujeri'. Nhema dzirikurehwa, nhema. Ipassport yavaMugabe iyoyo kuti ubude nayo. Tichikupa passport ehe ndinemhosva ndirikuda kubatwa navaMugabe'. (We were kind enough to offer them passports which they then used to travel to Britain to claim we were out to imprison them and yet fail to appreciate they were using Mugabe's passport).
Of course the millions of Zimbabweans who left the country were the victims of his political repression and the economic mess of Zanu-PF misrule. But what of it; what Mugabe does, has nothing to do with reason. He has put up his stall and nailed his banner to the wall. DIASPORANS ARE DESERTERS AND ARE TO BLAME FOR ZIMBABWE's MESS. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME BACK!
It is unlikely that many of the returning Zimbabweans will be harassed in anywhere, not immediately any-where. The real tough challenge they will face is on the economic front. Since the rigged July 2013 elections the Zimbabwe economy has taken a dangerous nose dive. Mugabe has turned his charm offensive in a desperate effort to get at least some seed money to launch his $27 billion ZimAsset economic recovery plan. He has failed to raise even one dollar, not even the Chinese would give him a single Yuan with which to rattle the begging bowl.
Returning Zimbabweans will be coming to a country with even worse economic prospects than when they left!
The British, South Africans and the Tswana, they all of Mugabe's mockingly empty begging bowl and can see the worsening economic situation and yet they are all set to send back Zimbabweans in their respective countries back into this economic hell. Why?
Besides the economic reality that none of these countries are not exactly over the moon at the prospects of all these Zimbabweans putting out their roots and making Britain, SA or Botswana their home. None of these host countries have been impressed by Zimbabweans abroad, back in Zimbabwe and in positions of power, particularly throughout the GNU, commitment to ending the political and economic chaos.
God knows the country had many, many opportunities to end the Zanu-PF dictatorship and yet wasted them all.
The growing consensus in London, Pretoria and Gabarone is if Zimbabweans are not serious about sorting out their mess, then send them back to stew in their own mess. Of course they have a point, take the recent visit to Botswana by the Zimbabwean NGO on this every issue of Zimbabweans in that country being deported back, for example.
What exactly was Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition trying to establish by asking Zimbabweans in Botswana whether or not they would rather stay than go back home? Of course the reply was that they would rather stay. To have said anything would have begged the two obvious follow up questions; Who forced you to come here? and Who is stopping you, going back?
Yet, believe it or not, Crisis Coalition dispatched a seven member delegation all the way from Zimbabwe to all the major centres in Botswana to ask that stupid question. This is a very serious matter but Zimbabwe-ans have developed a knack of turning very serious matters into trivial one.
Of course serious matter if not addresses and solved with due diligence will have equally serious consequences. Trivialising a serious matter will do nothing to soften the blows of the serious consequences, we should know!
Zimbabweans had the best chance ever to end this Zanu-PF dictatorship and SADC leaders and the whole international community reminded MDC leaders and Zimbabweans at large warned of the need to implement the democratic reforms but no one paid any heed. President Ian Khama of Botswana warned against accepting the proposed new constitution because it would not deliver free and fair elections and Zimbabwean went on to approve the damn thing by an emphatic 95% in the March 2013 referendum.
In a rare admission to failure by a Zimbabwean, MDC MP Samuel Sipepa Nkomo admitted that MDC had failed to implement the reforms and the consequences.
"We failed to secure critical reforms before participating in the elections. The whole world advised us not to get into the elections without reforms, and so in everything that we have been saying we have failed to acknowledge that we also made a mistake," explained the MP.
"The whole world? Who actually advised you against the elections?" he was asked.
"It is common knowledge that Lindiwe Zulu (President Jacob Zuma's international relations adviser) ad-vised us," came the reply.
"Zuma also advised us and even the Sadc Heads of State meeting in Maputo (Mozambique) also advised not to participate in the elections without electoral, media and security sector reforms, among others."
MP Nkomo went on to explain that SADC leaders and the international community went on to desert MDC in drove when it became clear the party was ignoring their warnings. The donors who had help fund MDC party activities refused to give them another cent!
Ordinary Zimbabweans played a big role in the failure to get the reforms implemented in that the people should have been on MDC leaders' backs to implement the reforms if they had been paying attention. So the sending back of Zimbabweans into the worsening economic chaos by Botswana, SA and Britain is some form of payback having been fast asleep during the GNU years.
Yes Zimbabweans have developed a knack for trivialising serious issues but by God we have paid dearly for our folly. The economic meltdown is a very serious matter and bringing back hundreds of thousands who had escaped the economic nightmare at the very time when the economic situation is even worse than when they left will force Zimbabweans to see this is no trivial matter! If it does not, the consequences of the economic meltdown will force them to!
Ever since Zimbabwe attained her independence we, the people, expect justice, peace, freedom and economic prosperity as a matter of cause. When the wheels started falling off our freedom train, we looked to those responsible for getting the train off the track to get it back or else everyone but not us to find a solution. The problems of good governance are serious matters we only have ourselves to blame for failing to see that and now we are paying dearly for it.
If we want a free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe we will have to work for it. If Zimbabweans in the diaspora had not taken their eyes off the ball then they would be returning to a better and not worse Zimbabwe than the one they left behind. Now, more than ever, all Zimbabweans have to the business of good governance with the seriousness it clearly demands!
-----------------
Nomusa Garikai can be contacted at zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
SA will decide next month what to do about 250 000 Zimbabweans whose work permit will expire this year alone. If the decision is not to renew the permit then that will mean a quarter of a million more people on the unemployed mountain or else join the overflowing informal sector, kiya kiya.
Mugabe announced at the burial of another hero that the British are seeking his assistance in expatriating "failed asylum" seekers.
Death like poverty clearly has no respect for the grandeur of being a Zanu-PF grandee. The late Shamuyarira was a victim of the regime's failed rule just like the rest of us. He lived the last years of his life in abject poverty and died a pauper. Life expectancy has dropped from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years in 2004, the last time accurate data was available. Death, the grim riper, has played havoc amongst us the masses but he has not spared Zanu-PF grandees either, not all of them can afford to go to Singapore with functioning hospitals. President Mugabe has been spending a lot of time burying his Zanu-PF grandee and used the last occasion to poke Zimbabweans in the diaspora in the eye!
"Mukapihwa kamari kakati, ah chava chichemo, hurumende yakashata, haisi nyika ino'. (If you are offered some small money you turn against the government alleging the country was badly governed.) Said President Mugabe at the burial of Major General Eliah Bandama, he was 56 years old.
"Kareko, haiwa votsvaga passport tovapa voenda kuBritain ivava; 'ah vaMugabe vari kutidzvanyirira, vaMugabe aiwa tiri kuiswa mujeri'. Nhema dzirikurehwa, nhema. Ipassport yavaMugabe iyoyo kuti ubude nayo. Tichikupa passport ehe ndinemhosva ndirikuda kubatwa navaMugabe'. (We were kind enough to offer them passports which they then used to travel to Britain to claim we were out to imprison them and yet fail to appreciate they were using Mugabe's passport).
Of course the millions of Zimbabweans who left the country were the victims of his political repression and the economic mess of Zanu-PF misrule. But what of it; what Mugabe does, has nothing to do with reason. He has put up his stall and nailed his banner to the wall. DIASPORANS ARE DESERTERS AND ARE TO BLAME FOR ZIMBABWE's MESS. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME BACK!
It is unlikely that many of the returning Zimbabweans will be harassed in anywhere, not immediately any-where. The real tough challenge they will face is on the economic front. Since the rigged July 2013 elections the Zimbabwe economy has taken a dangerous nose dive. Mugabe has turned his charm offensive in a desperate effort to get at least some seed money to launch his $27 billion ZimAsset economic recovery plan. He has failed to raise even one dollar, not even the Chinese would give him a single Yuan with which to rattle the begging bowl.
Returning Zimbabweans will be coming to a country with even worse economic prospects than when they left!
The British, South Africans and the Tswana, they all of Mugabe's mockingly empty begging bowl and can see the worsening economic situation and yet they are all set to send back Zimbabweans in their respective countries back into this economic hell. Why?
Besides the economic reality that none of these countries are not exactly over the moon at the prospects of all these Zimbabweans putting out their roots and making Britain, SA or Botswana their home. None of these host countries have been impressed by Zimbabweans abroad, back in Zimbabwe and in positions of power, particularly throughout the GNU, commitment to ending the political and economic chaos.
God knows the country had many, many opportunities to end the Zanu-PF dictatorship and yet wasted them all.
The growing consensus in London, Pretoria and Gabarone is if Zimbabweans are not serious about sorting out their mess, then send them back to stew in their own mess. Of course they have a point, take the recent visit to Botswana by the Zimbabwean NGO on this every issue of Zimbabweans in that country being deported back, for example.
What exactly was Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition trying to establish by asking Zimbabweans in Botswana whether or not they would rather stay than go back home? Of course the reply was that they would rather stay. To have said anything would have begged the two obvious follow up questions; Who forced you to come here? and Who is stopping you, going back?
Yet, believe it or not, Crisis Coalition dispatched a seven member delegation all the way from Zimbabwe to all the major centres in Botswana to ask that stupid question. This is a very serious matter but Zimbabwe-ans have developed a knack of turning very serious matters into trivial one.
Of course serious matter if not addresses and solved with due diligence will have equally serious consequences. Trivialising a serious matter will do nothing to soften the blows of the serious consequences, we should know!
Zimbabweans had the best chance ever to end this Zanu-PF dictatorship and SADC leaders and the whole international community reminded MDC leaders and Zimbabweans at large warned of the need to implement the democratic reforms but no one paid any heed. President Ian Khama of Botswana warned against accepting the proposed new constitution because it would not deliver free and fair elections and Zimbabwean went on to approve the damn thing by an emphatic 95% in the March 2013 referendum.
In a rare admission to failure by a Zimbabwean, MDC MP Samuel Sipepa Nkomo admitted that MDC had failed to implement the reforms and the consequences.
"We failed to secure critical reforms before participating in the elections. The whole world advised us not to get into the elections without reforms, and so in everything that we have been saying we have failed to acknowledge that we also made a mistake," explained the MP.
"The whole world? Who actually advised you against the elections?" he was asked.
"It is common knowledge that Lindiwe Zulu (President Jacob Zuma's international relations adviser) ad-vised us," came the reply.
"Zuma also advised us and even the Sadc Heads of State meeting in Maputo (Mozambique) also advised not to participate in the elections without electoral, media and security sector reforms, among others."
MP Nkomo went on to explain that SADC leaders and the international community went on to desert MDC in drove when it became clear the party was ignoring their warnings. The donors who had help fund MDC party activities refused to give them another cent!
Ordinary Zimbabweans played a big role in the failure to get the reforms implemented in that the people should have been on MDC leaders' backs to implement the reforms if they had been paying attention. So the sending back of Zimbabweans into the worsening economic chaos by Botswana, SA and Britain is some form of payback having been fast asleep during the GNU years.
Yes Zimbabweans have developed a knack for trivialising serious issues but by God we have paid dearly for our folly. The economic meltdown is a very serious matter and bringing back hundreds of thousands who had escaped the economic nightmare at the very time when the economic situation is even worse than when they left will force Zimbabweans to see this is no trivial matter! If it does not, the consequences of the economic meltdown will force them to!
Ever since Zimbabwe attained her independence we, the people, expect justice, peace, freedom and economic prosperity as a matter of cause. When the wheels started falling off our freedom train, we looked to those responsible for getting the train off the track to get it back or else everyone but not us to find a solution. The problems of good governance are serious matters we only have ourselves to blame for failing to see that and now we are paying dearly for it.
If we want a free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe we will have to work for it. If Zimbabweans in the diaspora had not taken their eyes off the ball then they would be returning to a better and not worse Zimbabwe than the one they left behind. Now, more than ever, all Zimbabweans have to the business of good governance with the seriousness it clearly demands!
-----------------
Nomusa Garikai can be contacted at zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
Source - Nomusa Garikai
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