The inaugural conference of the UK-based Post-Conflict People
organisation took place in London at the end of Novemver and was
attended by more than 200 experts from both the state and private
sector.
We were looking at countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo, but it
was Zimbabwe that seemed to really attract attention, conference
organiser Andy Bearpark told The Zimbabwean. I think people sense that
change must come soon and real plans are being drawn up for investment.
Bearpark is a former British development officer who went on to play a
major role in the rebuiulding of Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia and in
Iraq.
I can only judge by the comments I heard from delegates over lunch at
after the conference, he said, but it is safe to say that there is
huge interest in Zimbabwe, Sadly, until we see a real and irreversible
move towards democracy and the exit of ZANU-PF, investors will hold
back, but the there is no shortage of people willing to help.
The keynote address on Zimbabwe was delivered by veteran journalist,
Geoff Hill, who authored the book, What Happens After Mugabe?Â
Hill told the audience that there was little demand for land in the
country, but a huge cry for paid employment, and that creating jobs
would be the biggest challenge for a new government.
This is where investment is so critical, he said. We need to get
people back to work, and with propert investment a resurrection of the
economy will follow, he said.
He called for the urgent setting-up of a skills data base so that
qiualified Zimbabweans now in exule could be lured back to take up
positions once a democratic government is in place.
It will be difficult enough to encourage top people who now earning in
rands, pounds or dollars to leave all they have built up abroad and
come home, he said. But as things stand, we don't even have a list of
our best brains around the world.
Hill also warned that programmes to depoliticise the police and youth
militia should be developed now so that they can be put in place
immediately after the change.
We can't ask investors to set up shop in Zimbabwe until we restore law
and order, he said. But the roadmap for that could be laid out now in
order to save time when Zanu (PF) leaves office.