IN light of a huge appetite by the Zimbabwe Diaspora community to invest in the country given the array of skills they have acquired abroad, President Mnangagwa has directed relevant ministries to set up a working committee on diaspora affairs.
The committee, President Mnangagwa said, will redress
deficiencies in the current set-up that have resulted in the vital diaspora
community being left behind, even though it is equipped with relevant skills
that can aid the country’s development, towards Vision 2030, to become an upper
middle-class economy.
“I am directing that a working committee on diaspora
affairs, led by relevant ministers is formed without delay,” said President
Mnangagwa.
He directed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade should chair the committee, deputised by the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development, with the ministries of Home Affairs, Industry
and Trade and that responsible for Lands and Agriculture also taking part in
the working committee which will report
to Cabinet.
“Other ministries can be co-opted as and when issues
relevant to their portfolios emerge. This directive is consistent with our
whole-of-government approach which daily guides us,” said the President.
In his weekly column, the President, who was recently in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he interacted with Zimbabweans domiciled
in that country, said there are a lot of inadequacies in the current approach.
“In my recent interaction with the Zimbabwean diaspora
community in United Arab Emirates, it became starkly clear to me that our
systems in Government are still to come to terms with this phenomenon.
“While we claim to have a diaspora policy, it woefully
lacks a strategy and mechanisms for seamless interaction with this large and
critical body of Zimbabweans abroad. Often, we have come short, including in
providing such basic consular services like birth certificates and travel
documents,” he said.
With the emergency of e-passports and an online portal for
dealing with and meeting the daily needs of citizens in the diaspora, the
President said there is scope for holistic change.
“Wherever they are, whatever reasons took them there, they
remain our citizens, equal to, and just as important and as deserving as their
counterparts here at home.”
He said the conflict situation in Eastern Europe revealed
serious shortcomings both on the part of Government and that of Zimbabweans
living abroad. A gap in tracking Zimbabweans based abroad was revealed,
notwithstanding that eventually the Government was able to evacuate all its
citizens.
“While our Embassy in Russia yearly sent missions to
Ukraine to update records of our
participation.
“The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange must make this possible,
with Government going all out to provide and publicise friendly instruments for
diaspora participation.
“The yield for such a bond should be attractive enough and
in foreign currency. In equal and urgent measure, our Zimbabwe Investment
Development Agency, Zida, must step up its activities to target Zimbabweans
abroad who may want to set up shop back home.
“These must be facilitated in all ways possible, including
by availing industrial stands or factory shells built to purpose for free, or
on concessional rates. After all, more jobs will be created and greater value
created in our economy.”
He said in his interactions with the diaspora, one of their
biggest expectation was access to land. He said his Government, that recently
carried out a land audit will find ways of fitting them in, however, always
alive to the fact that land is finite.
“In my response to them on this very pressing matter, I have
tempered them on two counts. First, that land is finite and thus will not grow
to match the ever growing demand. While the land audit has revealed
availability of more land for allocation and reallocation, clearly not every
Zimbabwean will access land.
“Second, I have warned them that there will not be any
special treatment of Zimbabweans in the diaspora when it comes to agricultural
land. Those in need of agricultural land will have to join the queue like the
rest of Zimbabweans,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President however, said in respect of industrial stands
for setting up shop, Government is ready to show preferences to those in the
diaspora.
“Be that as it may, we face an ever-growing land hunger in
the country.
This places a huge responsibility on those enjoying access
to land already. They must work the land to make it productive. Should they
fail to do so, or utilise it fully, Government will intervene to repossess and
reallocate to those willing to work the land fully and productively. I am aware
that the responsible ministry is amenable to partnerships on agricultural land.
Herald
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