Zimpapers Logo

President Mugabe was addressing Zimbabweans resident here at a luncheon hosted for him by the country’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr

Andrew Mtetwa and his wife, on Saturday. The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces advised diasporan Zimbabweans to be good ambassadors of their country and make hay while the sun shines.

“Home is home, there is nothing sweeter than home but of course tinosungirwawo kumbokwashaka . . . I am making reference to that because you might feel, ah vakuru havadi vanhu vanobuda munyika kunoshanda.

“No, we like it a lot provided people have the desire to get back home at some stage having accumulated experience and of course (patting his pocket to indicate earnings) and personal experience, and back home you are bringing something.

“You are not just bringing your personal body, you are bringing experience. You are also bringing some resources with you, a combination of experience and material resources.”
He bemoaned the fate that befalls some Zimbabweans who emigrate to the United States on student visas where they become career students with nothing to show for the years spent in the Diaspora.

“Of course it’s the poor mice, vamwe vanoenda kuAmerica as students and 10 years later they are still students. Hakuwanzobva vanhu vane chavakabata kuAmerica.
“I also have relatives there, so I know. They come back with barely anything to offer. If they have had some education, better, some, no. The nice life there absorbs them and they come back empty-handed (and) also intellectually empty, some of them, so what benefit?” he asked.

The President paid tribute to Zimbabweans who have sought to use their skills in the region, saying they were contributing to regional development which in turn cascades to Zimbabwe’s national development.

“But professionals, people who have acquired something and work, especially in our region, have something. They are doing service to our region, because the development of our region is also our development because we interact. You know we have these regional organisations; they are economic, they are agricultural, they are multifaceted, and of course you are always coming back, always sending something home.”

He chronicled his own experience in the Diaspora, first working in Zambia before moving to Ghana in 1958 — a year after that country became independent.
His narration of his bachelor days had the crowd in stitches when he said: “I wanted to go to Ghana and see how things were, a year after Ghana became independent, it became independent in March 1957 . . . I was there as a bachelor at that time.
“Those were happy times; they never come back, do they?
“When so many girls look at you and that’s all gone for poor Bob!” He, however, urged Diasporans to invest wisely and not waste money on transient pursuits of pleasure.

“Kwete kuzodya marika senzenza . . . Kareko vanhu vaiuya vainzi mabvakureka.
“Vaiti vashanda muZimbabwe vaona vasikana vedu vaiti ‘ah tora zvako zvese zvirimuhomwe umu, undisiire chitupa chete’.
“Ndizvo zvavaiitwa vaibva kunana Malawi ka vachisekwa. I hope hamutisekesewo kuno kuti ‘ah tora zvese undisiire passport chete’.”
He said he had heard many good things about Zimbabweans working abroad.

“Tinonzwa mbiri muregion muno umu. They talk about the efficiency, the intellectual ability of our people, the discipline that they have. Efficiency, effectiveness, discipline — that’s a good name you are giving your country.

“You are also building your country that way. It doesn’t only come from vanaMugabe nevamwe vake varimukati. Your own efforts outside here, good performance here, good relations outside, the discipline and commitment you show here, they carry a lot of weight in adding to our fame.”
He advised Diasporan Zimbabweans to register their names with embassies in the countries they worked in to make it easy for officials to assist them in times of trouble.