via Zimbabwe to seek US$1 billion from diasporans – The Zimbabwe Independent March 23, 2016
ZIMBABWE’S government will send teams to developed nations in an attempt to get the country’s diaspora to invest about US$1 billion in its ailing economy this year.
Officials will visit the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and South Africa seeking funds in addition to the US$500 million Zimbabweans typically send home each year to family and friends, Obert Mpofu, minister of macro-economic planning, said Tuesday in an interview.
“Zimbabweans in the diaspora have expressed interest in investing back home, that’s why we’re doing this,” Mpofu said. “We think US$1 billion is a conservative estimate.”
About three million Zimbabweans out of a population of 14 million live outside the country, according to the United Nations, and many of those residing in developed nations are professionals. Zimbabwe’s economy is enduring sustained deflation and company closures after 16 years of economic and political crises. It has halved in size since 2000.-Bloomberg
COMMENTS
“Zimbabweans in the diaspora have expressed interest in investing back home, that’s why we’re doing this,” Mpofu said. “We think US$1 billion is a conservative estimate.”
Esssh; what hogwash! If this statement was coming from a professional comedian it would surely qualify “the joke of the year 2016”.
Unfortunately it is coming from one of the arch looters of zanu pf. So, it is not a joke at all. The zanu pf looting spree at home has reached its threshold limit & the readily available and lootable resources are no longer enough to sustain their levels of greed. Now Mpofu & his boss think they can try their luck in the diaspora.
I can only say good luck to you Cde “looter” mpofu. long live zanu pf; long live mpofu; A looter continua!
we will be waiting for them, and I can promise it will be fireworks. Vakapusa tichabvajura mazitumbu iwawo vakadzokera vava good weight. You want money but deny us any civil rights? munogwara here imi?
“Zimbabweans in the diaspora have expressed interest in investing back home, that’s why we’re doing this,” Mpofu said. “We think US$1 billion is a conservative estimate.”
It looks like both co-criminals Obert and Patrick have been smoking the same brand of weed…
My considered reasons for not being part of this attempt to collect donations from exiled Zimbabweans are:
Reason Number One: Mugabe and his criminal elite murdered at least 30 per cent of my close relatives in their “moments of madness”
Reason Number Two: Mugabe and his criminal elite then destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe in the their greedy madness to accumulate funds outside of Zimbabwe.
Reason Number Three: They destroyed the Bulawayo based industry that I was making a decent living in to sustain my wife and children forcing me to seek refuge and employment in a very cold and distant Europe.
And now they have the gall to come to me and mine to try and secure funds to allow them to continue with their thieving and destructive careers.
What madness.
The only help that they will get is from the few CIO operatives that they have sent here to live among us to report back to Headquarters in Harare. They will donate as they want by all means not to return home to live under Mugabe and his thugs.
A better plan would be for Bob to dig into his pile and help out a little
Who are these Zimbabweans in the Diaspora that Mpofu is talking about that are yearning for an impromptu visit from bureaucrats? You should be ashamed to come here especially with the sorry living conditions of the Zim diplomats who feel abandoned in foreign countries by your government. I respectfully suggest that instead of spending the precious foreign currency on worthless escapades to the hostile Western countries that you constantly accuse of plotting regime change, subversion and sanctions, you use that for urgent items like feeding the hungry in Zimbabwe. Zim is part of the global village whether you like it or not, so their physical presence in the Diaspora will serve to attract negative publicity or worse; they will face snubbing and discomfort from both the legitimate democratic government officials in these targeted countries and the hard working Zimbabweans busy supporting their families both back home and locally. This strategy to demand money from us is abusive and a typical sign of utter desperation. Since when have we become a willing cash cow for you to tap into? Stay home please! The Internet can do the work for you.
The teams are they coming with begging bowls or coming to highlite project which the disapora can invest ?
What changes have been done from yesterday to make zw good for bussiness comrade ?
Dont come here to canada.. you will be sorry. we dont tolerate zanu filth and their rabid thieving murdering swine mgabe….
Ini zvangu handidi kuzvinzwa izvi. You can forget it. For all the blood sweat and tears I have shed to earn my keep kuno kumhiri kwegungwa, there is no way that I for one, will ever give anything back to the very people who have caused me such hardship. Wishful thinking ZANOIDs!
Dream on, imbwa dzevanhu!!
If the population figures are correct it means that about 20% of Zimbabweans have had to seek employment outside the country. Are these not war time like losses? Zimbabwe’s brightest and best may be over-represented in this category. I understand expatriate Zimbabweans are not enfranchised. With the exception of South Africa the West plays host, no doubt at a benefit to itself. So Zimbabwe does export a highly beneficiated product, its talent. What sort of political system discards such a large percentage of its skilled population and reasonably expects to survive. I would genuinely like to have an idea of what percentage of Zimbabwean expatriates settled outside of the West and what contribution they make to that unfortunate country. Of course Zimbabwe has benefited vastly from non-Western sources in the past from Russian and Chinese friendship and the associated political philosophies.
They need money to pay the telephone bill for the Embassy in Washington. You cannot get through the phones are disconnected. Cuckoo land
Well well, we have come full circle, you wanted independance under mugabe, now you have it suffer in silence.
Is this the same Obert Mpofu who gained from the mines? Seems like he always comes up with the best ideas to make money for himself. After negotiating with Chinese, now it’s time to negotiate with diasporans He wants to maintain the 112 room hotel/