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(NEWZIMBABWE) Diaspora inclusion policy: the jangling discords

Diaspora inclusion policy: the jangling discords
by Jeff Madzingo
06/08/2010 00:00:00

HUMANresource capacity is a key asset of any nation, for what is a nation without the human factor? When a small developing nation like Zimbabwe loses so much of its human capital, one would assume that it’s a national emergency requiring a co-ordinated response.

Brain haemorrhage kills developing countries and no amount of aid can counter that. The home country always suffers as it fails to benefit from its investment in its migrating manpower.

Notwithstanding, there seems to be a tragic tendency in most developing countries when they deliberately entrench the disenfranchisement of their own Diasporas and Zimbabwe is a classical case. With the inception of the inclusive government in February 2009, many Zimbabwe Diasporas had hoped for a co-ordinated and well thought out inclusion agenda, but at best the approach to date can be described as laughable.

The jangling discords that have come to epitomise the Zimbabwe establishment’s Diaspora inclusion policy, or lack of it, reminds one of the story of a man who long ago had a brain surgery that went terribly wrong. The surgeon in the story accidentally damaged the patient’s brains such that they were only 50% functional.

Notwithstanding, the patient still had a good chance of survival so the surgery completed and the man was allowed to recuperate before being told of the bad news. On being told of the irreversible mistake, the man simply said “Hazvina basa” (“It doesn’t matter”).

To the psychiatrist, the answer symbolised the extent of the damage and the man was confined to a mental health institution for the rest of his life. For most of us who grew up in Zimbabwe, there are varying version of this famous story or call it a joke.

The level of brain drain suffered by Zimbabwe in the last decade is simply unbelievable and one can’t help but identify Zimbabwe to be the patient equivalent. The lack of a Diaspora inclusion and engagement policy on the part of the Zimbabwe government equates the ‘It doesn’t matter’ attitude in the said story.

For if it mattered, one then wonders how all the parties in the inclusive government came up with 32 ministries and completely disregard the desperate need for Diasporas inclusion. For a senior figure in the GPA to then come to the Diasporas almost two years later and argue the need for a Diaspora Ministry is simply laughable.

The lack of a clear policy, constitutional or otherwise, is tantamount to exclusion. On the one hand, there is a lot of rhetoric in the inclusive government about the need to engage the Diasporas. At the same time, one cannot help but notice that the other fundamental elements in the power sharing government would rather declare everyone non-resident non-Zimbabwean. The advocates for Diaspora disenfranchisement seem to be more steadfast and resolved and seem to be winning the tussle.

In the first week of July 2010, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that a Cabinet committee has come up with a catalogue of electoral amendments that have since been signed, sealed and delivered to the Attorney General’s Office for drafting. Of significance to Diasporas is the fact that only those on national duty abroad would be allowed to cast their ballot.

The latest amendments have prolonged the agony of those in the diaspora by continuing to disenfranchise them. In February 2005, I led a group of Zimbabweans based in the UK in a constitutional challenge to fight for the Diasporas’ right to vote in all general and presidential elections. As expected, the test Supreme Court Case 22/05 was thrown out.

One would be forgiven to think that the Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is fully aware of the recent electoral reforms. If he is, then it is probably the right time to remind him that Diasporas would appreciate a co-ordinated and well-articulated inclusion approach rather than an ad hoc and selective inclusion as this can only further disenfranchise and marginalise the Diasporas.

Mutambara talks of a Minister for the Diaspora at the same time a government he is part of is pushing through legislation that denies Zimbabweans based abroad their right to vote. The government cannot seek to engage on the one hand and deliberately advocate disenfranchisement on the other.

In June 2009, the Prime Minister was booed off the stage in London after declaring that ‘‘Zimbabweans must come home’’, but in direct contradiction, Mutambara addressing Zimbabweans in London on July 24, 2010, said the unity government formed in February 2009 “does not desire to force people to come home”. A week earlier, also addressing Zimbabweans in London, the other Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said: "I’m not going to say you come home, but encourage you to make your own assessment of when it would be ideal for you to come home.”

Two things are clear here, firstly, the leaders from Zimbabwe now know what to tell Diasporas to avoid being jeered off the podium and secondly, there is no co-ordinated Diaspora policy agenda. Every other Zimbabwean official visiting the Diasporas seems to think that it’s okay to come up with their own policy or directive to impress or impose on the Diaspora community.

The net result of such discords is that after the ‘small talk’, nothing happens because there is no strategy or policy framework for sustained engagement.

If ever Zimbabwe would significantly benefit from its Diasporas, there is need for coherent integration policies and strong institutional frameworks not these jangling discords.

Jeff Madzingo is the CEO of New Zimbabwe Media Limited. He can be contacted on e-mail jeff *** newzimbabwe.com

Labels: DIASPORA

posted by MrK @ 8:04 PM