Empowering diaspora to make a real difference

By regularly sending home basic commodities and cash, Zimbabweans in South Africa and those abroad saved many from starving and are one of the reasons why Zimbabwe did not degenerate into a civil war.

In the absence of democratic space at home, where Mugabe continues to brutally crush dissenting voices and political opponents, the Diaspora should also be commended for continuing to fuel the country’s democratic machinery through external lobbying.

There are many active Zimbabwean pro-democracy movements in the Diaspora, most of them in neighbouring South Africa. One of the most notable is the Global Zimbabwe Forum, which acts as a mother-body to many.

Empowering exiles

Formed in 2005, the GZF has been instrumental in mobilizing Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to turn their difficult situations into opportunities to make their country prosper – both politically and economically.

With acclaimed Zimbabwean academic and writer, Professor Kenneth Mufuka, as its patron, the Geneva-registered GZF has embarked on a number of empowering activities around political and social activism for Zimbabwean exiles.

One of the key architects of the organisation’s activities is Norah Tapiwa, co-ordinator for its South African chapter.

Not only does Tapiwa, a former bank worker in Zimbabwe before her migration in 2004, add a female voice to the organization, but she has also been vital in keeping the organization going with her shrewd planning.

Do not forget

Working on a voluntary basis for the organization since its inception, Tapiwa has travelled to almost every corner of South Africa, encouraging Zimbabweans to remember that the day will come when they will have to return to their country, hence they must prepare by not forgetting where they come from.

“Our aim is that when democracy finally dawns on Zimbabwe, those based in the Diaspora should return more as investors and businesspeople than as employment-seekers and that is what the GZF is all about,” she told The Zimbabwean.

“We know that with the millions that are living in exile, not all of them can afford that, but many have the capacity and we are trying to give them the opportunity through this loose network of civil rights organizations.”

Through its economic arm, the Zimbabwe Diaspora Development Chamber, the GZF has held workshops to help Zimbabweans identify niche markets that they can venture into to build themselves economic clout – both as individuals and co-operatives.

Investors

“Instead of looking to the donor community to come and invest in Zimbabwe, we lobby Zimbabweans to fight to be investors in their own country, thereby turning their displacement into an opportunity. We do not tell them to wait for a time when democracy dawns, but also encourage them to work towards that, while also empowering themselves economically, so that they continue to play a role in their country’s prosperity.”

The organization, which has already approached both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in its fundraising campaigns, is still awaiting a recommendation letter from the Zimbabwean government so that it can begin to receive funds to further empower exiles. Tapiwa is concerned over delays in dispatching the letter.

“We have more programmes lined-up on skills training, and empowerment, but the delay in issuing the letter by government is holding us back,” she said.

“We have tried to engage the Prime Minister’s office so that the letter is prepared and submitted, but the national unity government has so far not helped us. We want to carry out leadership courses and workshops because Zimbabwe currently has a huge vacuum in those areas.”

The organisation has already set up a banking institution, Imbongi Capital, affiliated to South Africa ’s ABSA bank, which seeks to simplify Diaspora remittances.

Quick and cheap

The bank opens accounts for Diasporans, which they use to send money home in a swift, safe, cheap and convenient way. The client target is more than 500 000 people.

Tapiwa was selected as one of the 2010 Peace makers by the San Diego University in California, last year, where she spent two months on a fellowship at the San Diego University Peace Institute.

The former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions officer was drawn into conflict with Mugabe’s party in the 1990s.

Her husband died from a disease which was curable, after medicines were no longer available in 2003 and before she left the country, visits from men in dark glasses had become more ominous. Since 2000 the trades union had become involved in a life and death struggle during both the constitutional referendum and elections.

She was not an active MDC member, but that did not blur the Central Intelligence Organisation radar from targeting her.

No papers or money

Eventually, she fled Zimbabwe with her two children through Botswana, without any papers and no money – armed with the will not only to survive, but to continue the struggle away from home.

A leading voice in the formation of the ZGF, her heart still grieves for abused and suppressed Zimbabwean women.

“I wish the women of Zimbabwe could one day enjoy peace,” she says, close to tears. “I wish institutions could be put in place that empower them, so that they do not continue to suffer at the hands of abusive men, who think that because they are the bread-winners they can suppress women in all spheres of life.”

She is disappointed in Zimbabwe’s economic improvements under the national unity government.

“There is so much informal trade in Zimbabwe, where everyone is involved in the business of buying and selling. That cannot sustain the economy. We need to be able to manufacture our own products and stop relying on imports of everything including basic commodities.

Zimsec circus

“We also need to return to the quality of education for which we were renowned in the past – not this Zimsec one, where people get certificates even for subjects they never sat for. That is a circus created by gross mal-administration. The brain-drain must also stop at some point.”

An activist at heart, who is always touched by the plight of Zimbabweans away from home, Tapiwa also participated in the formulation of the Diaspora policy, which was submitted to the Zimbabwean government recently.

“I do not know if they will use it, but we are proud that we produced a quality document that can turn our country around,” she says.

Pained by the past but using her energy to ensure that the present shapes the future, Tapiwa vowed not to tire in her quest to make Zimbabweans in the Diaspora become valuable to their country by shaping its destiny.