Third letter to Zimbabweans in the Diaspora

Zimbabwe has such gigantic and unimaginable volumes of minerals in its belly and it is estimated that it has the highest per capita mineral reserves in the world.

I last wrote to you last year in November, and I hope those of you who threatened to come home for Christmas actually did come. I calculate that that was the last Christmas in Zimbabwe under the GNU. I also hope that those of you who came from South Africa managed to return safely. The fiasco at Beitbridge border post was embarrassing and reminds us again how in Africa, we are hopeless at planning and managing infrastructure.  I was actually there the other day, and could not believe our failure to build and maintain a world class border post as it is one of the busiest in Africa which benefits the country tremendously. Home affairs must get its act together and things must change.

In these times, the buffoonery we are seeing  here In Zimbabwe is accelerating, as politicians try to do all they can to, once again, hoodwink the ever naïve voters.  I hear that some wealthy ones have even resorted to giving out goats and pigs at rallies, as a promise of better things to come. What a comedy.  Others are shouting at the top of their voices with regard to seizing stakes in established companies, as the drive to indigenize picks up momentum. I still question the ultimate motive behind this because, if indeed this was a genuine effort to empower you and me, there would be no need to be an "approved" empowerment partner. I shall certainly try my luck to be "approved" but will not be surprised if, for some reason, I am deemed unsuitable to pursue my ambitions and create wealth in my country of birth.

There is also a lot happening in the spiritual realm as Zimbabweans who are desperate for money  are flooding the new prosperity preaching evangelical churches that have sprouted in every unused building in the city. It is a sad spectacle as you see huge numbers of hopeful Zimbabweans stampeding to be blessed, so that they too can get their hands on that mountain of dollars in the shortest possible time. It is now reported that gold now even falls from the heavens at some of the gatherings. With that who needs indigenization? The Reserve Bank has now entered the fray, and endorsed the so called miracle money preachers as genuine and therefore they pose no threat to Zimbabwe's money supply .How preposterous. Doesn't this man have more serious work to do?

I continue to encourage some of you to begin investing in property or land at home. I expect a scramble for Zimbabwe to start this year and you will be well advised to get in before the crowd thickens. Your country is poised for greatness and we only have a few who continue to hold it back and wish that things would not change. These of course, can be found in the army, police or within the structures of our liberation party ZANU (PF). I am really not worried about them because, the fresh winds of change will soon sweep them aside. Mark my words.

You all would have heard of a new political party that has been established that is led by Mutumwa Mawere. I tried to get more information on it, but was duly referred to a press release that spoke of its formation. No help there, but I guess we will all soon find out who is involved and what they really stand for. I would be interested in evaluating that before I comment further on them. There is the risk, of course, that we are splitting the vote and I agree with that. But are we going to create another one party state in our haste for change?

There have been a few articles talking about how Zimbabweans are so educated and how, if those in the Diaspora return, the country will boom. I think this will only be the case once we have democracy and free enterprise without the government telling us what we can become. In addition, I think the country has just too many MBA's and PhD's as opposed to technicians and entrepreneurs. For once, I agree with Ignatius Chombo, the infamous property mogul who happens to be the minister of local government, who talked about how the country needs to tailor its academic endeavors in line with what the country really needs. Even the not so bright bulbs on the chandelier are now being called doctors here, without them even setting a foot at any university.

Money talks I guess. We desperately need people who make things here in Zimbabwe as the country is now full of traders and Chinese products. Basically, every second person in Zimbabwe is selling some imported trinkets. It's a rat race. ( "Mujawe we makonzo"  as a friend of mine said to me the other day). I am told that the city of Mussina in South Africa is now a mini Beijing mainly because of the troops of Zimbabwe traders that are seen flocking their daily. God help us.

I learnt with surprise that Zimbabwe has such gigantic and unimaginable volumes of minerals in its belly, and it is estimated that it has the highest per capita mineral reserves in the world. That is, if you divide the total quantity of mineral reserves by our total population, each Zimbabwean would own the highest tons of gold, diamonds, chrome and platinum and 1000 other minerals in the world. Now this means there is enough to go around for every Zimbabweans alive today and more and yet, we still have unprecedented selfishness and greed by some.

For me, a better approach to this indigenization fiasco would be where every Zimbabwean over 18, receives a once off endowment of say 100,000 hectares of arable land and 100,000 tons of minerals of diamonds and gold. There would be plenty more left for other investors and we would turn out to be the wealthiest indigenized country in the world. Simple isn't it. Who needs the nefarious community share ownership schemes that we are seeing?

The referendum is finally here in March and hopefully the elections will come in July. I trust that God will keep his promises to us and reward our patient suffering over the last 32 years. I also hope that the MDC will meet our expectations. One thing we cannot afford is to sit back as we did in the past, and hope for the best. We all must participate in creating a new participative democracy and must be vigilant and astute. I continue to pray, that all of you, black and white, will come back home so that we can build a new Zimbabwe beyond our dreams and expectations.

I shall invite the President of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, to begin to share with us what he intends to do in the first 100 days of independence. Yes, I am calling it independence because the first one we had in 1980 has turned out to be a complete disaster, so we can have another can't we?

I heard the late Paul Matavire's song the other day and I laughed out loud. It said: "manomano emuroyi, kunyebera kutya dzvinyu  iye akasunga nyoka muchuuno". While listening to the song, I had a picture in my mind of some prominent ZANU (PF) politicians here, but I shall leave their names to your imagination.

As always, until later, I wish all of you good health, patience and hope.

Sincerely Vince Musewe

Vince Musewe is an economic analyst based in Harare. You may contact him on [email protected]

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