Magaisa 45

Zimbabwe has lost its brains
BY MAGAISA IBENZI
SOUTH AFRICA - Mr Editor I am delighted to report that my suggestion for a government in exile has drawn support from a number of Zimbabweans. Jennings Rukani of Manchester would like Zimbabweans in the UK, USA and South Africa to kick-start the t

hing, although of course representatives from Zimbabwean diaspora communities all over the globe should be included.
“I have been personally miffed by the fact that even opposition leaders based in Zimbabwe (MDC) have since 2000 viewed us as opponents rather than fellow comrade,” says Rukani.
“We have the capacity to organise and be recognised as “the” future of Zimbabwe. If anything, we are the ones who have lived democracy. It is our right to organise ourselves in any form if both Zanu (PF) and the MDC pretend that we do not exist. We are denied the vote and the opposition we worked hard to form and strengthen feeds rallies with rhetoric against us.” I think he makes some excellent points.
More support for the idea came from those wonderful young chaps in England – the Free Zim Youth. Those boys are really energetic – in fact, I think they should start this thing moving.
“If we are really serious about removing Mugabe we should have our own government in exile to coordinate far more pressure on SADC members. We are really happy to hear from someone who think in the same way as we think. Let’s do it, it’s now or never.”
The trouble is that forming a government in exile is a mammoth undertaking.
However I was most encouraged to find that the Joburg-based Diaspora CSOs Forum is already working on a blueprint for a new Zimbabwe.
The Forum is a coalition of over 28 civic society bodies formed by exiled Zimbabweans down here.
May I suggest, Mr Editor, that all those like-minded organisations and individuals should get in touch with each other – maybe around a conference table – to take this vital matter further as speedily as possible.
The Forum makes the interesting point that right now 65% of Zimbabweans are in rural areas, enduring lives of peasants. They are monitored by the army, the police, chiefs, kraal heads, violent youths and political executioners, amid hunger, disease and deep poverty. These people obviously do not have the capacity to decide or plan the future of the country. It is therefore the responsibility of those of us who have escaped to do something practical and serious and quickly about this.
One of the problems is that Zimbabweans are totally dependent on government and foreign funding. Policy is crafted by people protecting privileges. The president is concentrating power in a few individuals who face the same risks as him, such as General Mujuru.
National development strategy is lost in this farce. Unfortunately the rural peasants cannot interpret these issues, but we in the Diaspora can. Zimbabwe has lost its brains. We are all outside here.
The Forum urges Zimbabweans in other countries to form National or Regional Forums. These Forums will then form an International Forum, to chart policy, diplomacy, friendship, peace, democracy, and above all an economic revival plan to be practised in the Diaspora first.
The government in exile should build parallel capacity, particularly in business, so that Zimbabweans will be able to go and invest in Zimbabwe. What we need is a new breed of leaders, to create a new thought process.
Please, dear readers, keep your ideas rolling in. Let’s do this thing. We’d also like to know what the opposition politicians think about it. – magaisa@thezimbabwean.co.uk

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