http://www1.voanews.com
Pretoria sources
told VOA that President Jacob Zuma has become exasperated
by continued
delays in Harare and wants the parties to meet a December 5
deadline set by
regional leaders
Blessing Zulu | Washington 26 November 2009
A
South African mediation team that was expected in Harare on Friday to give
a
push to talks on settling issues troubling the power-sharing Zimbabwean
government will now arrive on Sunday, sources in Pretoria said
Thursday.
They said negotiators for President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party, the
Movement for Democratic Change of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and a
rival MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara wanted
more time to focus on the agenda of vexed questions
including the
swearing-in of provincial governors promised the MDC and the
tenure of
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes
Tomana, both
Mugabe stalwarts.
But Pretoria sources told VOA that
President Jacob Zuma has become
exasperated by continued delays in Harare
and wants the parties to meet a
December 5 deadline for resolution of the
so-called outstanding issues set
by the Southern African Development
Community in early November.
South African mediation team member Lindiwe
Zulu, a foreign policy advisor
to Mr. Zuma, confirmed the schedule
change.
Despite the signals of impatience in Pretoria, negotiators for
members of
the tripartite government took a break Thursday so Finance
Minister Tendai
Biti, lead negotiator for the Tsvangirai MDC formation,
could wrap up his
2010 budget.
The negotiations will pick up on
Saturday.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Blessing
Zulu that Zuma's no-nonsense approach is likely to produce
results.
Elsewhere, a Pretoria judge ruled on Thursday that a bilateral
investment
protection agreement to be signed Friday by Pretoria and Harare
must protect
the property rights of South African farmers with land in
Zimbabwe.
Judge Roelof du Plessis issued the ruling based on an
eleventh-hour
settlement between the South African government and the
farmers and
activists who filed the suit this week asking the court to bar
the
government from signing the Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection
Agreement.
The ruling additionally puts Pretoria on record
as honoring a ruling by the
Windhoek, Nambia, tribunal of the Southern
African Development Community in
favor of Zimbabwean and other farmers whose
land was seized under Zimbabwe's
land reform program. ZANU-PF officials in
the Harare government have refused
to comply with the SADC tribunal ruling
and have repudiated the jurisdiction
of the regional court.
Lawyer
Willie Spies, representing AfriForum, one of the litigants against
the
government, issued a statement following the ruling that his client
"welcomes this undertaking and the court order stating that South Africans
seeking to register and enforce the SADC Tribunal finding would now, in
addition, be armed with a formal undertaking of the South African government
endorsed by the court."
The November 2008 tribunal decision said the
Zimbabwean land reform program
"constituted racial discrimination, an
infringement of the right of access
to courts, and an arbitrary taking
without adequate compensation, each in
breach of Zimbabwe's treaty
obligations."
The vast majority of Zimbabwe's white commercial farmers,
who once numbered
more than 4,000, have been dispossessed of their land,
often through violent
invasions by liberation war veterans and other ZANU-PF
militants. Many farms
ended in the hands of ZANU-PF ministers and officials,
including Mr. Mugabe,
his wife and other family members.
http://www.themercury.co.za
November 27, 2009 Edition 1
STANLEY GAMA
Mercury Foreign Service
HARARE: The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
is encouraged by South
Africa's appointment of new mediators for Zimbabwe,
but President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu-PF is wary.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC believes former cabinet ministers
Charles Nqakula and Mac
Maharaj and Zuma's international relations adviser,
Lindiwe Zulu, can help
break its impasse with Zanu-PF over fulfilling all
the requirements of the
unity government's founding agreement.
The team's appointment ends Thabo
Mbeki's mediation role in Zimbabwe. The
MDC has frequently accused Mbeki of
being biased towards Mugabe.
"I think the new team will add the extra
sense of urgency, precision and
objectivity to the negotiations," said MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
Some well-placed Zanu-PF officials are uneasy,
with a party politburo member
saying the negotiations will become tough for
his party.
"With Mbeki we would be under no pressure because he
sympathised with
Zanu-PF and did not get on really well with the MDC," he
said.
"The truth of the matter is that with Mbeki there was some kind of
protection for us, but with Zuma it could be different. Zuma himself has in
the past condemned us, even before he became president.
Click
here!
"Maharaj is also tough and wants things done properly, and this
Lindiwe Zulu
is a professional and not a politician, so it won't be
easy."
A Tsvangirai aide predicted there would be a breakthrough in the
negotiations.
"The reason why we are still negotiating a deal that
was signed a year ago
is that Mbeki and his facilitation team were not fair
on us," the aide said.
"But we have every reason to believe that the new
team will be fair and will
not show open support for one political party. A
breakthrough is imminent."
Pedzisai Ruhanya, chairman of Zimbabwe
Journalists for Human Rights, said
Zuma would succeed because he was tough
with both sides.
"He has brought with him professional people whom we
think are fair."
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/5277
There's a lot of
chat among Zimbabweans at the moment about the rumours we
are hearing of
massive production of Zimbabwe dollar bills.
The talk is that these bills
are being transferred into big-wig bank
accounts (people like Gono and his
crew) which are swelling fast with Zim
dollars.
People are
speculating that these individuals, who have already enriched
themselves at
the expense of the Zimbabwe economy, are readying themselves
for the day the
Ministry of Finance decides on a rate to reimburse all those
people who had
Zim dollars in their account shortly before dollarisation.
As worthless
as the Zimbabwe dollar was at the time, it is acknowledged that
the switch
to a different currencies left those who only had Zim dollars,
and no US or
Rands, with a disadvantage.
So the thinking on the streets is that Gono
and his sordid crew are packing
their accounts to the gills with local
currency which they plan to exchange
for the real-deal - US dollars - when
the reimbursement rate is announced.
Currency manipulation wouldn't be a
new trick in their books and their past
antics explain why Zimbabweans are
so suspicious of them.
Prior to dollarisation Gono and Co. had access to
lots and lots of Zimbabwe
dollars (while ordinary people had to queue for
days and days at the banks
to get their hands on a few notes at a time) and
they also had access to
foreign currency at a very favourable government
rate. What they did was buy
up foreign currency at a low rate, and then sell
it on the streets at a much
higher rate for a lot more Zim dollars, and then
roll those Zim dollars into
buying more currency which they would sell
again, rapidly (and I mean
rapidly!) enriching themselves.
The new
reimbursement rate has yet to be announced and one of the reasons is
we
think Tendia Biti is looking hard into who was ripping the system in
those
days and who was not. Will heads roll? Probably not - a fact
Zimbabweans are
finding very difficult to swallow indeed. And that fact that
the principle
agent of our economy's downfall has managed to escape
accountability makes
the rest of us think he'll begin to believe he leads a
charmed life, and
more likely to carry on trying to steal from the people.
Its clear from
the chat in town, that when there's talk of new cash around -
especially
crisp wads of Zimbabwe dollars - people immediately swing their
minds to
the myriad of ways the corrupt Zanu PF loyalists will trip over
themselves
to try and exploit it to their advantage, and to the disadvantage
of the
nation.
If public opinion was something Zanu PF cared about, then the
lack of trust
that surrounds them and their activities would be something
they tried very
hard to address.
The other Gono related joke causing
much amusement is the news that he has
been given the role of Secretary for
Finance in Zanu PF Manicaland Province.
Everyone responds immediately with
the words "Good, they can have him!"
Most of us are hoping Gono will be
as efficient at looting Zanu PF coffers
as he was the nation's. Maybe then
Zanu PF will have less money to pay the
youth militia who go around beating
us up and ruining our lives!
This entry was posted by Still Here on
Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 2:00
pm
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25394
November 27, 2009
GilesMutsekwaHome Affairs
co-Minister, Giles Mutsekwa
By Our Correspondent
MUTARE – Giles
Mutsekwa, co-Minister of Home Affairs, says his office has
ordered the
police to immediately arrest Joseph Mwale, the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) operative accused of the murder of MDC
activists in
Buhera nine years ago.
Mutsekwa said Mwale was believed to be in
Nyanga.
Mutsekwa said his ministry had ordered the immediate arrest of
individuals
who committed crimes against humanity since 2000. He said Mwale
was on the
list of those who should be immediately apprehended.
“We
have directed that all people with criminal cases should be arrested,
Joseph
Mwale included,” Mutsekwa said.
He said he was confident the Mwale would
eventually face justice.
Mwale has eluded justice despite a High Court
order to have him arrested and
charged with the gruesome murder in broad
daylight of MDC activists,
Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika at Murambinda
Growth Point in 2000.
Chiminya, then an aide to Morgan Tsvangirai, the
MDC leader and Mabika, a
youth activist, were petrol-bombed in their vehicle
while campaigning for
the party ahead of the 2000 parliamentary
elections.
Mwale and three Zanu-PF activists, including one Kainos
Kitsiyatota Zimunya,
were immediately identified as the perpetrators of the
brutal attack which
shocked the nation.
They have, however, remained
out of custody on bail and the case has, for
unclear reasons, failed to
proceed.
Mwale, who is the alleged mastermind of the murders, has
remained virtually
untouched and appears to enjoy immunity from arrest and
prosecution.
Mwale’s whereabouts have also remained a closely guarded
secret although
Mutsekwa said he was believed to be living in
Nyanga.
Early this year, Mutsekwa, the MP for Dangamvura and Chikanga,
said Mwale’s
“honeymoon” should now come to an end.
Mutsekwa shares
the powerful home affairs ministry with Zanu-PF’s Kembo
Mohadi. The police
force falls under the ministry.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=25396
November 27, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
CHIREDZI- Scores of Zanu-PF supporters Thursday protested against
the
Masvingo provincial executive for what they described as the arbitrary
inclusion of the provincial governor Titus Maluleke on the list of nominees
to the party's central committee.
Maluleke had lost to little-known
James Chauke in the Zanu-PF elections to
choose four members from Chiredzi
district into the central committee.
However, the governor was
subsequently co-opted into the central committee
by Masvingo's Zanu-PF
provincial executive. The executive indicated that as
a senior member, the
governor should not be subjected to elections.
Irked by this development,
party supporters took to the streets carrying
banners denouncing the
provincial executive for imposing Maluleke on them.
"We want democracy to
prevail," said one of the protesters who requested
anonymity.
"The
governor was beaten cleanly in elections and we do not know why his
name has
been included on the list.
"We will abandon Zanu-PF if this mess is not
cleaned up. If someone has lost
in elections there is no way he should be
included.
"We have sought an audience with President Robert Mugabe over
this issue
because this is dictatorship at its worst."
According to
Zanu-PF sources, Chiredzi district was supposed to hold
elections and
nominate only four members into the central committee.
However, in
surprise a move the party's provincial executive has since
directed the
Chiredzi district co-ordinating committee to nominate only
three since
Maluleke was already a nominated member.
A circular from the provincial
executive read: "Be advised that you are only
supposed to hold elections for
three members to be nominated into the
central committee since Cde
Maluleke's name has already been listed down.
"He is a very senior member
of the party who should not be subjected to
elections hence his name can not
be removed by anyone."
Masvingo Zanu-PF provincial chairman Lovemore
Matuke on Thursday confirmed
the development adding that the decision to
include Maluleke on the list of
central committee members was made after
consultations with senior party
members in the province.
"We have
asked Chiredzi to forward to us only three names because the fourth
name is
already there," said Matuke. "Maluleke is a senior party member and
we feel
his inclusion on the list should not irk anyone."
This is not the first
time that the Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial executive
has attracted criticism
from party members in the province.
Last week, the provincial executive
was censored by senior party officials
after it dropped vice president Joice
Mujuru from its nominees for the
presidium in favour of former Manicaland
governor Oppah Muchinguri.
The Masvingo executive had to rescind the
decision and nominate Mujuru
following pressure from senior Zanu-PF
officials.
All nominations will be presented to the Zanu-PF national
congress to be
held in December.
http://www1.voanews.com/
The
government is under heavy pressure from the Kimberly Process
Certification
Scheme to put the field under the control of private partners
and pull
military units out of the area
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington 26 November
2009
An institute in Mutare, Zimbabwe, has challenged a recent
statement by Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu saying the military is pulling out
of the Marange
diamond field in Manicaland province, scene of alleged grave
human rights
violations.
The Center for Research and Development in
Mutare, capital of the eastern
province bordering Mozambique, said it has
carried out its own investigation
and found the military is not pulling out
of the rich Chiadzwa alluvial
diamond field.
The government is under
heavy pressure from the Kimberly Process
Certification Scheme to put the
field under the control of private partners
and pull military units out of
the area.
Harare has named several private partners, but companies
including the
Rapaport Group have said they will boycott Marange diamonds.
And South
Africa's Old Mutual said it is reviewing a share stake in New
Reclamation
Group, which is among the companies Harare has invited into
Marange.
Rights groups say more than 200 people have been slain in the
Marange field
by soldiers and police. A Kimberly Process team that visited
the area
concluded there were serious violations of human rights and
extensive
illegal trade in diamonds.
Director Farai Maguwu of the
Center for Research and Development told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri that soldiers have only left the claims
being worked by Mbada
Diamonds and Canadiles Investments, two Harare
partners.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 27
November 2009
HARARE - The Zimbabwean government is willing to engage
British mining firm
African Consolidated Resources (ACR) in negotiations to
resolve an ownership
dispute over the controversial Marange diamond field, a
top government
official said Thursday.
"This dispute has to be solved
and a solution has to be found in view of
forging a partnership," Deputy
Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai said.
He added: "The solution has to be for
the benefit of everyone. The companies
that are there (in partnership with
ZMDC) are just operating from a certain
portion of Chiadzwa and not the
whole area. Chiadzwa is a big place which
cannot be operated by a small
company."
ACR holds right of title to claims on the Marange diamond field
that was
seized by the Harare government in October 2006.
Harare
earlier this month engaged two private firms to partner state-owned
Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) in mining the claims despite
a High
Court ruling last September that confirmed ACR's ownership of the
Marange
deposits.
The government has said it will appeal against the High Court
ruling while
ACR has vowed to fight in the courts any attempt to strip the
firm of its
rights over the diamond claims.
Marange is one of the
world's most controversial diamond fields with reports
that soldiers sent to
guard the claims after the government took over
committed gross human rights
abuses including murder against illegal miners
who had descended on the
field following the expulsion of ACR.
A team from the Kimberley Process
(KP), the world diamond industry watchdog,
that visited Zimbabwe at the end
of last June condemned rights violations
and rampant smuggling of diamonds
that it said were being committed by
soldiers based at Marange.
But a
KP meeting in Namibia about three weeks ago decided against banning
Zimbabwe
diamonds from the world market and instead agreed to give Harare
more time
to review operations at Marange and improve security arrangements
to comply
with the organisation's standards.
However a leading international
diamond trading network has banned members
from trading in diamonds from
Marange citing concerns over "severe human
rights violations" at the diamond
field.
The Rapaport Diamond Trading Network that connects thousands of
some of the
best diamond suppliers and buyers around the world has said that
members
found dealing in diamonds from Marange would be denied access to the
network.
Zimbabwean diamonds not sourced from Marange are not banned.
- ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 27 November
2009
GORDON BROWN . . . there is still much progress to be
made
HARARE - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday said he
was looking
forward to Harare's return to the Commonwealth fold following
significant
progress made by Zimbabwe's unity government but stressed that
there was
still considerable ground to be covered.
"We all look
forward to the time it can rejoin our family of nations because
it will
signify finally that the days of oppression, violence and economic
catastrophe have been left behind," Brown said in a statement, adding; "But
there is still much progress to be made."
President Robert Mugabe,
his long term rival Morgan Tsvangirai and another
opposition leader Arthur
Mutambara in February formed a power-sharing
government to end a political
stalemate after inconclusive elections last
year.
The unity
government has undertaken to end the country's international
isolation and
repair ties with Western countries including the European
Union, the
Commonwealth grouping of former British colonies, International
Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for possible resumption of financial
support.
Western nations - that continue to give humanitarian aid -
have stressed
they can only avail financial support to the Harare
administration only if
Mugabe implements comprehensive political and
economic reforms that show
that he is firmly on the route to restore
democracy, rule of law and respect
of human rights, a process that has been
hampered by hardliners in the
85-year-old leader's ZANU PF party.
"We
stand ready to do more, once the Zimbabwean government shows that it is
ready to implement the agreements it has made; to take actions to reverse
the political, economic and social decline of the country; and to implement
the Global Political Agreement," the British Premier said.
"There are
persistent and serious human rights violations; a continuing lack
of
judicial independence and an absence of the rule of law. And the
constitutional reform process - a vital component for the free and fair
elections essential to full international re-engagement with Zimbabwe - is
already behind schedule."
Mugabe, who withdrew Zimbabwe from the
Commonwealth in 2003 calling it an
"evil organisation", is yet to fully
implement last year's power-sharing
agreement that gave birth to the unity
government.
Some of the outstanding issues that have threatened to derail
the coalition
government include Mugabe's refusal to rescind his unilateral
appointment of
two of his top allies to head Zimbabwe's central bank and the
attorney
general's office.
Mugabe has also refused to swear in
Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy
agriculture minister while the MDC-T
is also unhappy by what it says is
selective application of the law to
target its activists and officials.
On the other hand ZANU PF, which
insists that it has met all its obligations
under the GPA, accuses the MDC-T
of not living up to a promise to lead a
campaign for lifting of Western
sanctions against Mugabe and members of his
inner circle.
But the
British Premier said the international community wanted to see
progress on
reforms in security, justice and media, all culminating in free
and fair
elections.
"Such actions will drive the decision about whether to lift
the EU asset
freeze and travel ban against the 203 Zimbabweans involved in
the violence
and human rights abuses, and on 40 companies associated with
them," he
said. - ZimOnline
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
27/11/2009 00:00:00
by Lebo
Nkatazo
ZIMBABWE shot down a proposal to return to the Commonwealth
on Thursday
after a senior official declared: "We don't want to be part of
the
Commonwealth."
President Robert Mugabe pulled his country out of
the organisation -- a club
of former British colonies -- in 2003 and has
been a fierce critic of
Britain ever since.
However, the new
political coalition in Zimbabwe has helped pave the way for
a possible early
return.
Leaders of Commonwealth countries - including British Prime
Minister Gordon
Brown -- will gather for their biennial meeting in Trinidad
and Tobago on
Friday. Discussions will take place that are expected to set a
timetable for
Zimbabwe to be re-admitted at the next summit in two years
time.
Officials say the re-admission will be linked to a series of
political
reforms being implemented by the Zimbabwe government.
But
Didymus Mutasa, Zimbabwe's Minister of State for Presidential Affairs
and a
senior figure in Mugabe's Zanu PF party told New Zimbabwe.com: "We
left the
Commonwealth by choice. If we want to go back, it's us who are
supposed to
tell them.
"Their offer is empty of any meaning, it has no meaning. We
went out
voluntarily, nothing has changed. We still don't want to be part of
the
Commonwealth."
Mutasa said they were unconcerned that Zimbabwe's
neighbours have remained
part of the organisation, declaring: "It's not a
problem that our friends
are members of the Commonwealth.
"We don't
want to be bothered by the Commonwealth. We won't go back because
we don't
want to be bothered."
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the
leader of the MDC, agreed
to join a unity government with Mugabe in January
after months of political
stalemate.
While his party may favour a
return to the Commonwealth, the final decision
will likely rest with Mugabe
and his Zanu PF party.
Zanu PF passed a resolution to quit the
Commonwealth after Zimbabwe was
suspended from the club amid accusations
Mugabe had "stolen" the 2002
presidential election vote.
A bristling
Mugabe said the Commonwealth had been hijacked by racists who
were
interfering in Zimbabwe's internal affairs.
"The Commonwealth is a mere
club, but it has become like Animal Farm, where
some members are more equal
than others. How can [Tony] Blair claim to
regulate and direct events and
still say all of us are equals?" he said.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Simplicious Chirinda Friday 27 November
2009
HARARE - A Zimbabwean women's pressure group has castigated the
three
political parties in the power-sharing government for failing to
promote the
participation of women in politics.
In its gender audit
report released on Wednesday, the Women in Politics
Support Unit (WIPSU)
said President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's
MDC-T and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara's MDC-M are
just the same when it
comes to the treatment of female politicians.
"The three parties claim to
believe in the core values of equality, justice,
empowerment,
non-discrimination, freedom and equity among others but none of
these three
parties had a substantive gender policy," read the report
entitled "Are
Political Parties Serious About Gender Equality and Women's
Rights?"
"Only MDC-T had developed a gender and women empowerment
policy by the
second phase of the study. The MDC claimed they had a policy
however most of
those interviewed were not aware of it. ZANU PF claimed the
country's
National Gender Policy is the ZANU PF policy since it went through
ZANU PF
processes before being adopted as the national policy."
WIPSU
is a feminist organisation which provides support for women in
parliament
and local government in Zimbabwe with the aim of increasing their
qualitative and quantitative participation and influence in policy and
decision making.
The gender audit report which was compiled between
March 2008 and 2009
assesses the commitments the political parties in
Zimbabwe have made in
advancing women participation in decision-making
positions.
The report further stated that members of the three parties
are not even
aware that there are gender policies in their parties. It said
the parties
have written policies that look good on paper but will not go
further than
the shelves.
"For all the three political parties, it is
clear that there is a huge gap
between rhetoric, policy on paper and policy
in reality," read the report.
The pressure group said the attitude of
political parties in Zimbabwe is
generally negative.
The group said
it will present the report to the three political parties and
lobby them to
implement its findings and recommendations. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Mutumwa Mawere Friday 27 November
2009
OPINION: Zimbabwe is the last country on the alphabet but
attracts
disproportionate global interest and attention.
What is it
about Zimbabwe that its citizens’ normal activities in the face
of daily
challenges attract the attention of even President Obama who on
November 23
singled out co-founders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
movement Magodonga
Mahlangu and Jenny Willians as recipients of the 2009
Robert F Kennedy Human
Rights Award for their inspirational work and
willingness to expose
themselves to intimidation and physical abuse in the
name of nation
building.
I was born in Zimbabwe and like many of my compatriots we
decided to
challenge what it means to be African by acquiring the
citizenship of
another African state in the hope that through our own
choices we can
stimulate a new conversation on what kind of Africa we want
to see.
Who am I? Am I a Zimbabwean-born South African citizen? Or am I a
South
African? Can I ever be considered to be in the diaspora by virtue of
the
fact that I voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another African
state?
I am aware of the civil society conversation taking place next
week in Cape
Town under the theme: “Engaging the Diaspora toward Zimbabwe’s
Economic
Reconstruction” that seeks to map issues for diaspora participation
in the
reconstruction of Zimbabwe.
I was requested to prepare a paper
for presentation at the dialogue focusing
on the following issues: “What and
where is the Zimbabwean Diaspora? Where
are its interests in Zimbabwe’s
recovery? What conditions can attract the
Diaspora in economic recovery?
What opportunities exist for Diaspora
assistance in Zimbabwe’s recovery
within and outside of Zimbabwe?”
To the extent that the issue of identity
in Africa is a complex and
confusing one, I can understand why I was asked
to contribute my insights to
issues that should ordinarily occupy the minds
of people who have agreed to
be bound by the Zimbabwean social
contract.
What do we mean by diaspora? Why should this class of people be
treated any
differently from a citizen of a foreign state that wishes to
invest in
Zimbabwe?
We know, for example, what a Chinese looks like?
However, the face of an
African is somewhat confusing let alone the face of
a Zimbabwean.
In Greek, a diaspora is any movement of a population
sharing common ethnic
identity.
The use of the word whose first
mention is found in Deuteronomy 18:25 that
states: “thou shalt be a
dispersion in all kingdom of the earth” began to
develop from this sense
when the Hebrew bible was translated into Greek and
the word was used to
refer to the population of Jews exiled from Israel in
607 BCE by the
Babylonians and from Judea in 70 CE by the Roman Empire.
Like Jews,
Zimbabwean-born persons have dispersed in all kingdom of the
earth.
However, unlike Jews, people who share the Zimbabwean heritage
have failed
to forge a common platform in advancing the interests they
purport to have
with respect to the future of their motherland.
When
you get 10 Jews in any geographical space it is not unlikely that a
synagogue will be built.
They are alive to the power of networking
and they build thriving
institutions where they call home without forgetting
that their real power
lies in organisation.
With respect to Africans,
it is not unusual that disproportionate amount of
time is devoted in
discussing what is perceived to be wrong with Africa and
less time is spent
discussing how people in the diaspora can be the change
they want to see in
Africa.
To the extent that most Zimbabweans like many Africans are
disorganised
institutionally in their host countries they rarely make the
impact on the
policies of the countries that they live in.
It is,
therefore, not surprising for instance that South African foreign
policy
towards Zimbabwe in not informed by the views of the people who pay
taxes in
South Africa but call Zimbabwe home.
In terms of interests, many of the
people in the diaspora behave like they
live in a silo and they interact
with Zimbabwe at the retail level because
we have not been able to create
wholesale institutions that can be used to
lobby the people that host us to
see Africa the way we want to see it.
Although we are part of the social
contracts of the countries that host us,
we are unable to influence, the
pension funds, that we contribute to every
month to direct our involuntary
savings to our home countries.
Many of the people in the so-called
diaspora are living under difficult
conditions and lack the necessary
savings to make an impact as individuals
to what is taking place in their
home countries.
If one is living from pay cheque to pay cheque then such
a person cannot be
expected to make a meaningful contribution to his/her
home country.
The only power that people who do not have power is the
power to organise
and therein lies the challenge.
We rarely meet and
even when we want to we cannot finance the venue let
alone the travel and
subsistence.
Even if, for example, the South African government were to
consider
consulting Zimbabwean-born people living and working in South
Africa where
would they start?
How many of the Zimbabwean-born South
Africans have seen merit in becoming
part of the South African institution
building blocks like joining the
political parties from whom state power is
derived?
Many live in the diaspora but have mentally not departed from
Zimbabwe. They
spend time discussing Zimbabwean politics instead of focusing
on how their
income collected as taxes is being used against their
interests.
Zimbabwe can best be promoted by an organised group of
people.
Opportunities do exist in the diaspora but what is necessary is
that an
investment is made in building institutions that then will provide a
reference for what is possible in Zimbabwe when people come together and
invest in the kind of civilisation that promotes progress and
development.
Zimbabwe belongs to people who choose to be part of its
social contract.
Those that have elected to be outside the social
contract can only play a
catalytic and supportive role.
The power
players in Zimbabwe have to respond to the people who choose to be
part of
Zimbabwe by surrendering part of their income for taxation.
We all can
learn from the experience of other nationalities that have chosen
to be
citizens of foreign states and see what they have had to do to be
relevant
in their host countries while being able to be a factor in their
home
countries.
Yes we can but we need to invest in what it means to be
African.
One does not need to be resident in Zimbabwe or let alone born
in Zimbabwe,
for example, to be relevant to the development challenges that
are faced. –
ZimOnline