The brain drain drawing professionals mainly in their 20s and early 30s to Britain, the US, South Africa and Australia is far more serious for Zimbabwe than the widely reported exodus of white farmers, say economists. The highly-trained professionals leaving, at an estimated rate of 45 a day, include doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers and journalists.
Given that former teacher Mugabe gave Zimbabwe’s 12 million population some of the best education in Africa in his first 10 years in power, the exodus is a disaster for the southern African country. AIDS deaths spawned by worsening poverty mean the country needs its 14,000 nurses more than ever, but they are clamouring to leave. The prospect of a job in Britain – any job – is tantalising in a country where trained nurses with families can no longer make ends meet on their meagre monthly salaries.
At the Keg and Maiden pub in Harare, Percy, Sam, Rueben and and Florence, all professionals in their 20s, spend another evening swapping stories about friends who have left.
“The new way to do it is via Egypt,” says Percy, an accountant. “It is easier to fly through a transit point than to arrive in London on the direct flight.” He tells of a friend who got to Montreal before immigration authorities turned her back for not having enough funds for the six-month holiday she claimed she was planning.
“As soon as you have a deported’ stamp in your passport, you’ve blown it,” Sam says, “because there is a three-year waiting list for passports here.”
On the other hand, adds Florence, it takes a good three years to save up the airfare. A return ticket to London now costs Z$439 million.
“One friend, who is in London now, sold everything – television, table, chairs – leaving only a mattress on the floor for his wife to sleep on. We really have nothing to lose. The idea is not to leave forever. You go as a tourist, disappear into the woodwork, work for two or three years and send money home, then come back and buy a house.”
The presence of Zimbabweans becomes more pronounced in Brixton, the Mbare of London, according to reports. Mbare is a poor township on the outskirts of Harare which provided much of the capital’s labour before unemployment hit 80 per cent and inflation its present level of 14,000 per cent. – Chief reporter
Post published in: News