The new dispensation in Harare needs the buy-in and investment of millions of Zimbabweans who left the country and settled elsewhere, particularly the multitudes resident in neigbouring South Africa, if the vision of turning around the Zimbabwean economy is to be realised, Zimbabwe consul general Henry Mukonoweshuro told expatriates in Johannesburg.
Addressing a glitzy Zimbabwe Achievers Awards ceremony in Johannesburg on Saturday night, Mukonoweshuro appealed to Zimbabweans based in South Africa to seriously consider moving back and investing in their motherland, now led by President Emerson Mnangagwa.
“As we meet today, in the new dispensation as we called it since last November, the government of Zimbabwe is very proud. We, as the representatives of the government of Zimbabwe are very proud to say as you toil, as you make names in these foreign lands, you should now start looking north of the Limpopo [River]. As the president [Mnangagwa] always says, his mantra – Zimbabwe is now open for business,” said Mukonoweshuro.
“It [Zimbabwe] is indeed open for business, mostly from the diasporans. You will recall a Zimbabwe that you left probably 15, 20, or 35 years ago, and I think you are still yearning for a return to that Zimbabwe – the bread basket of Southern Africa. We believe we can do it together. With the experience that you have gained, with the synergies that you have created in these developed countries, I think you can team up, look north, and say let us trek back together; let us go back and build that Zimbabwe which gave us education, which gave us basic skills,” he said.