Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was booed and heckled by Zimbabwean exiles in London for asking them to come home. Would you have booed Mr Tsvangirai if he had asked you to come back home if you had attended the meeting? What was the purpose of this meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and Zimbabweans living in UK?
Did Mr Tsvangirai just decided to have a meeting just to tell people to come back to Zimbabwe? I don’t think so!
This was a perfect opportunity for Zimbabwean exiles in Britain to engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue with the Prime Minister. It was an opportunity to be updated, informed and hear for themselves from Mr Tsvangirai why he thought it was right to form a Unity government with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF.
Was this a missed opportunity lost because of all the fear of having to go back to Zimbabwe? Did Morgan Tsvangirai come to ask Gordon Brown to send Zimbabweans back home like some are suggesting?
But did anyone expect Tsvangirai to say, please don’t come back home? He needs all the skilled manpower he can convince to go back to Zimbabwe, to help in re-building the country.
The question is. Is this the right time to be asking people to go back to Zimbabwe? Is the environment now conducive for people to go back home and live a meaningful life. Is the economic environment right for business investment? Is the political situation stable so that investors feel safe to do business in Zimbabwe?
But as Zimbabweans, we should work together and engage in constructive debate and constructive criticisms. Only us Zimbabweans can rebuild Zimbabwe. Other countries and investors will come in and help but we have to show our commitment to improving our own situation.
Think about the future, where will you be in the 2, 5, 10, 15 or 20 years to come?
Feel free to share your views by posting your comments.
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I fully understand the need for rebuilding in Zimbabwe, but does Mr Tsvangirai not understand that the main reasons people have left Zimbabwe still exist in the country today:
1)Mugabe. He is still in charge and has not/will not change.
2)The economy… Who is going to sacrifice returning to unemployment, poverty, disease? There is little hope for short term economic recovery – especially while Zanu PF are still in control. No prudent investor, especially in these times of recession, is going to risk investing in a dangerous unstable enviroment
3)Politics.Like myself, many Zimbabweans do not care who is in power, as long as it does not affect your ability to live in peace, security and are not at risk at being used as a pawn in a political power struggle.
The white community in particular and opposition supporters in general feel they have been and can be targetted at any opportunity by the state apparatus as a means to achieve political gain. There is no evidence this has significantly changed or will change.
4) Those of us fortunate enough to have the abbility to visit back 'home' see the rapid deterioration of a once thriving economy and the resultant poverty. The daily struggles to survive! Yes we work harder here and the lifestyle is far removed from what we are used to, but we have become accustomed to freedom, rights and privelages Zimbabwe could not offer!
So, yes Mr Tsvangirai, you may have the wider prosperity of the nation at heart, but until each individual believes within themselves that there is not only security, change and hope of an improved life, there will be very few volontiering to return.The risks at this time are too great.
Life under Mugabe has certainly had its ups and downs, but I ask the question is the world ready for a Zimbabwe post Mugabe. More over is Zimbabwe really prepared for a world post Mugabe.
There are so many things to consider and questions that remain unanswered that maybe we should really begin to seek out truths for some of the harder questions about how we will prepare ourselves to rebuild a shattered nation and who's going to help us do it?
Read more of my thoughts here:
http://wp.me/pyq3l-3Q