Come Home to Zimbabwe

We received this today – and reproduce it hereunder for general information:
Dear Friend of Common Purpose

We are pleased to announce the opening of applications for the following programme:

Zimbabwean Leaders in the Diaspora

This leadership course is designed primarily for Zimbabweans living in South Africa, and focuses on the regeneration and development of Zimbabwe. The aim is to help those participating to make a more positive and effective contribution to the future of Zimbabwe. The course provides an opportunity for individual participants to obtain up to date information from key leaders located within Zimbabwe, as well as to develop their thinking, and discuss with others, possible futures for Zimbabwe. Throughout the programme, participants are encouraged to challenge their preconceptions – to step outside their comfort zone and explore the scope of leadership and creativity available to them.  It will also equip them with some of the tools to translate that experience into positive action. Non-Zimbabweans who are able to demonstrate a strong commitment to, and involvement in the country, may also apply.

The programme takes place in Johannesburg from Thurs 27 May to midday on Sunday 30 May 2010.
Closing date for applications: 10 May 2010

Application forms are available from disebo.mbaba@commonpurpose.org.za.

Please feel free to disseminate this information to anyone whom you believe may be interested.

Sincerely
Elsbeth Dixon

CEO Common Purpose South Africa

The Herald, Harare —13 April 2010

THE Registrar-General’s Office will from tomorrow start issuing six-month multiple-entry Temporary Travel Documents to replace the existing 21-day Emergency Travel Documents.

The new TTD will cost US$38.

At a Press conference in Harare yesterday, RG Mr Tobaiwa Mudede said this would address the challenges of counterfeit travel papers that fraudsters were producing.

“The new document, which will start to be issued on Wednesday 14 April, 2010 is machine-readable just like a passport.

“This is meant to curb fraudulent activities by those who have been trying to imitate our documents. It is much more secure than the old one, which was not machine-readable.

“The new document meets required international standards and will be valid for a period of six months. The issuance will take one day,” Mr Mudede said.

He said the TTD would be used in countries that already accepted Zimbabwe’s ETDs.

Mr Mudede urged ports of entry officials to accept 21-day ETDs until they expired.

The new TTD has a security watermark, a lining at the margin of the document and the national identity number.

Mr Mudede said the new document also had invisible marks, which could only be detected by a machine.

“Having experienced fraudsters who have been producing counterfeit documents, we have decided to tighten the security features with invisible marks which can only be detected by the machine at ports of entry.

“We know they are busy trying to produce fake documents but we believe this time around they would not be able to imitate these ones,” Mr Mudede said.

He urged Zimbabweans to apply for travel documents from designated offices only.

In December last year, scores of Zimbabweans wishing to travel to South Africa for Christmas shopping were stranded at Beitbridge Border Post as immigration officers rejected ETDs.

South Africa’s Home Affairs department officials said the travel documents had been tampered with and insisted that their Zimbabwean counterparts should first authenticate them.

This was after ETDs whose validity was 21 days, were altered and five more months added and signed for by Zimbabwean authorities.

In September last year, Zimbabweans with ETDs issued in Gweru and Bulawayo were barred from entering South Africa because of a flood of fake documents produced in the two cities.

Zimbabwean officials requested the suspension while police investigated a major theft of ETD documents from the Gweru passport office.

A number of syndicates issuing fake documents have been busted over the past year.

Comment: We at Come Home To Zim will watch carefully to see when this Bond is actually launched, and pass on the information. It is worth noting that the most recent Reserve Bank bond to mature (raised and guaranteed by government), has paid investors absolutely zero. The bond matured in January 2010 but the bank defaulted on its repayments of investment with the promised interest. But perhaps the participation of Afreximbank in this scheme, will give potential investors a little more confidence this time…

We also wonder why, with all those diamonds at their disposal, the government needs diasporeans’ cash?

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 20 February 2010 17:20

ZIMBABWE’S begging bowl will be extended to the Diaspora once again as the
country seeks to raise US$50 million to help finance the rebuilding of the
economy. The fund-raising initiative will be carried out through the
floating of a Diaspora Bond to enlist the services of non-resident
Zimbabweans in the reconstruction of the country.

The bond – a formal contract to repay borrowed money with interest at fixed
intervals – was first mooted last year and was supposed to be floated in
July.

But it was put on hold to allow promoters to tie a few loose ends.

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and government would guarantee the
bond.

Gift Simwaka, Afreximbank’s regional manager for Southern Africa told
Standardbusiness last week that the parties are working on the coupon
(interest) to be charged.

“The coupon is yet to be determined but it would be at competitive rates and
in line with prevailing market conditions at the time of subscription.

“The tenure would be three years,” he said.

The idea of the Diaspora bond was mooted last year in a bid to enlist the
services of Zimbabweans to help rebuild the economy.

Over three million Zimbabweans are in the Diaspora in South Africa, UK and
US having fled the political and economic crisis of the last decade.

The majority of them are professionals and plans to lure them back have hit
a brick wall due to low salaries offered on the local market.

Every month, the non-resident Zimbabweans send money to prop up struggling
relatives back home in the wake of low salaries averaging US$200 a month.

Remittances from the Diaspora topped US$190 million last year, a 142%
increase from the previous year.

In the three-year Macro-Economic Policy and Budget Framework launched last
year government recognizes the role played by non-resident Zimbabweans in
economic development.

It said government will develop an appropriate remittance framework linked
to investment opportunities working in conjunction with associations of
non-resident Zimbabweans.

Government bonds are affected by a number of variables such as inflation and
the perceived country risk.

Countries that are seen to be riskier than others have to offer a higher
coupon (interest) in the first place to attract investors than those that
have stable economies like the United States.

The more risky the country, the lower the price and therefore the higher the
yield and vice-versa. If a bond’s price falls, its yield rises and
vice-versa.

Falling yields are good for an economy and are referred to by economists and
politicians as “long-term interest rates” as it enables companies and
government to borrow more cheaply next time they need to.

Zimbabwe desperately needs the capital to kick start the economy.

The country’s revenue inflows, though increasing, cannot cover the projected
national costs. In 2010 government expects to get US$1.4 billion in revenue.

But with expenditures totalling US$2.250 billion, it means that the US$810
million in vote of credits pledged has to come in.

BY NDAMU SANDU

Two senior cabinet ministers encourage successful entrepreneurs in neighbouring South Africa to help revive moribund economy

Scott Bobb of VOA News -  www1.voanews.com

Johannesburg 15 February 2010

Zimbabwe’s two home affairs (Interior) ministers earlier this month told a gathering of successful Zimbabwean businessmen in Johannesburg that the government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai wants them to return to help revive the economy.

Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Mr. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change jointly run the Home Affairs portfolio in the power-sharing government that emerged one year ago.

The unity government has stabilized the Zimbabwean economy after years of hyper-inflation and economic decline.

The home affairs minister representing ZANU-PF, Kembo Mohadi, urged exiled businessmen who wish to invest in Zimbabwe to visit the country, saying foreign media were responsible for the negative reports on the investment climate.

“Investment opportunities in Zimbabwe are abundant and conducive for every business interest. As a country and government we do not trample on individual or property rights,” Mohadi said.

The MDC Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa, said it is the duty of every Zimbabwean to help rebuild the nation and he added that the government knows it must make the business environment free.

“The main reason why we have come here is to give assurances, as the two ministers who are responsible for the interior, that we will – the two of us – endeavor to ensure that you come back home without any hindrance, most importantly that you come back home without anybody victimizing you whilst you are in that country,” Mutsekwa said.

Several businessmen attending the event had experienced difficulties with the Zimbabwean government. They had been “specified” which means their companies had been taken over by government-appointed administrators after they were accused of alleged illegal activities.

Critics say the controversial specification law has been used by some individuals with political connections to raid profitable companies.

One of those present was John Moxon, the former chairman of the board of the Meikles corporation that owns extensive tourism operations in Zimbabwe. Moxon was specified amidst a dispute with the company’s chief executive and fled Zimbabwe after a months of harassment.

Home Affairs Minister Mutsekwa said a debate had been launched on whether specification discourages investment and whether methods other than specification could be used to investigate suspected law-breakers.

“That debate is going on. But while that debate is going on the two minister of Home Affairs have taken it upon themselves that we will clear all outstanding issues regarding specification,” Mutsekwa said.

The head of the defunct Trust Bank, William Nyemba, who had also been specified, said many businessmen are keen to return.

“And I can’t wait to be going back home soon, I believe so, to go and resuscitate Trust Bank. And if we can get the opportunity to try and help rebuild our country, let’s do so,” Nyemba said.

Nevertheless, many foreign investors have been unnerved by recent moves on profitable companies, including renewed seizures of white-owned commercial farms and orders to some tourism operators to take on local partners.

A new law was published last week in the official government gazette that would require foreign owners of major companies in certain sectors to sell 51 percent ownership to black Zimbabweans within five years.

The law was passed by the ZANU-PF controlled parliament before the inauguration of the unity government. Prime Minister Tsvangirai has rejected the law saying it was published without consulting the cabinet and would scare away foreign investment.

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN

Zimbabwean migrants que to get into South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, 27 August 2009 (IRIN) – A new labour migration centre at the Beitbridge border crossing between Zimbabwe and South Africa will be the first step in implementing an agreement between the governments of Zimbabwe and South Africa to reduce irregular migration and promote safe, legal migration options.

The new centre, run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was opened on 27 August, when the two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation and support in the fields of labour and employment.

Erin Foster, the IOM information and communication officer in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, said the pilot project would facilitate the temporary migration of seasonal workers to South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province from three districts in Zimbabwe: Chiredzi, Masvingo and Beitbridge.

The goal of the project was “to reduce the dangers for migrants … [and] limit the risks that exist for individuals”. Zimbabwean job seekers – initially some 5,000 – would register with their local district labour centres, while South African farmers would register their labour requirements.

After a matching process run by the centre, workers will be issued with passports and work permits allowing them to travel for the duration of their contract.

“This development comes at a critical time when South Africa has announced a Special Dispensation Permit for Zimbabweans wanting to live and work in South Africa,” An IOM statement said.

From MDC communiqué, The Changing Times, 21 August 209

The Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Morgan Tsvangirai will review the controversial law that was used to strip thousands of people of their citizenship and right to vote because they were once citizens of other countries or because their parents were once foreigners.

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, Hon. Gorden Moyo, said the Prime Minister’s office was working on a policy document on the citizenship law that will be submitted to Cabinet.

He said changes to the law were necessary to enable thousands of Zimbabweans who lost their citizenship or who have acquired citizenship of other countries to participate in national affairs.

“All we are saying is that let’s discuss about these issues.  There are a lot of children who were born out of the country and acquired citizenship of their resident countries but they are also Zimbabweans who have lost their citizenship because of the dual citizenship law,” said Hon. Moyo.

Zimbabwe bars dual citizenship, while a 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act tightened the law by requiring Zimbabweans who were once citizens of other countries or whose parents were once foreigners to formally renounce that “foreign citizenship” in order to qualify for Zimbabwean citizenship.

The law saw thousands of Zimbabweans being removed from the citizenship roll, in a plot by Zanu PF to whittle down the MDC’s support.

Most of those affected by the law were white Zimbabweans of European origin or black workers on white-owned farms whose parents migrated from neighbouring countries and who largely supported the MDC.

Hon. Moyo said the proposed changes to the citizenship law were part of wider efforts to restore the rights of an estimated three million Zimbabweans or a quarter of the country’s 12 million people living in exile and to encourage them to participate in the recovery of the country.
“We are working on a policy document that is going to increase the participation of Zimbabweans in the diaspora in the economy and other spheres,” he said.
“We are still on the discussion stage but the policy is going to deal with issues such as the remittances of investments, repatriation of skills, refugees, restoration of voting rights and the citizenship question.”
Hon. Tsvangirai has since called on exiled Zimbabweans to return home to help rebuild the country.

Currently Zimbabweans lose their rights to vote if they stay outside their constituency for more than two years, and therefore have to travel home to re-register if they want to vote. The estimated three million citizens outside the country obviously represent a formidable voting bloc.

The feeling among Zimbabweans all over the world is that the Diaspora should be allowed to cast their votes in general elections from outside the country. Or at the very least, citizens should be allowed to participate in the public consultations on the new Constitution.

Diaspora organisations such as the Global Zimbabwe Forum and in South Africa, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, are currently advocating for the regulations to be changed to allow ex-patriates to be able to cast their votes AS CITIZENS, using just their Zimbabwe ID or Passport. Voting stations could be set up in all Zimbabwean embassies or consulates abroad to enable this.

The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Executive Director Gabriel Shumba recently publicised the resolutions formulated at the end of the one day Diaspora Constitutional Symposium symposium held in Johannesburg on 30 June 2009.

Resolutions included:
-  the setting up of a Diaspora representative structure to engage with the Parliamentary Select Committee on the constitution and the Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Eric Matinenga;
- the setting up of a website to put forward ideas regarding expectations of the diaspora;
and emailing submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee.

The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum plans to hold similar symposiums in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and possibly the United Kingdom.

At the top of the Home Page you will see a new section entitled “Job Offers in Zimbabwe”.

This information has been supplied courtesy of the NGO Network website, Kubatana.net.

Some of the jobs have an application deadline which is coming up very soon; so please check out the vacancies asap, read the requirements carefully and if you qualify, go for it!

Good luck

The Come Home Team

From The ZimDiaspora.com

THE Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has called upon the Government and the private sector to embark on programmes that facilitate the formulation of strategies to lure back skilled Zimbabweans who had left the country as a result of the economic meltdown.

He also called on trade unions to encourage their members to effectively apply themselves in the workplace in order to ensure sustainable productivity that would help in the turn-around of the economy.

In a message read on his behalf by Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, Mr Gorden Moyo at the annual Senior Human Resources Executives Forum in Harare on Wednesday, Prime Minister Tsvangirai lauded the forum organisers for a well thought theme – Transition – A Human Capital Perspective, that he said fitted in well with the Government crafted Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP).

Prime Minister Tsvangirai said the forum, organised by the Institute of People Management in Zimbabwe (IPMZ) came at an opportune time when the Government was battling with transitional challenges that called for participatory and co-ordinated interventions to issues of the country’s productive human capital.

He said the new political dispensation called for the restoration of work ethics that inculcated a culture of skills application and the dignity of hard and honest work that had been destroyed by the get-rich-quick syndrome brought about by a thriving black market.

“A nation can only be as good as its human resource base and the greatest tragedy of human life is to go to the grave with talent that has not been unlocked,” Prime Minister Tsvangirai said.

He expressed sincere hope that forums of this nature would provide frameworks that enabled participants to critically look at issues that affect human capital.

Other presenters at the forum were the Minister of Labour and Social Services Ms Paurina Mpariwa, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Cde Mike Bimha and the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) president, Mr David Govere.

From The Zimbabwe Standard – by Ndamu Sandu, Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:27

ZIMBABWE’S month-on-month inflation for March decreased by 0.1 percentage points to -3% in March, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said on Thursday. The development, raised optimism the country is on its way out of the woods.
In February the month-on-month inflation stood at -3.1%.

“This means that prices measured by all the items in the CPI decreased by an average 3.0%,” CSO said.

CSO said the Consumer Price Index for the month ending March 31 had decreased to US$91.73 from US$94.60 in February.

Economists attribute the decline in prices to competition among businesses in order to remain viable.
Since the introduction of forex shops in September and the dollarisation of the economy this year prices of basic commodities have been declining.

Independent economist John Robertson said the inflation numbers are “a modest improvement in that we were too much before though the prices are still high compared to South Africa.”

“We have reason to be pleased but I don’t think it is a full picture of the solution,” he said.

Robertson said it will be a long time before we see local industries producing at their maximum.

Most of the products in shops are imported and there are fears that local industries will collapse if they are not capitalised.

The government has prioritised the recapitalisation of industries under its economic recovery plan, the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP).

Under STERP the government said a US$2 billion external credit facility would be established to cater for strategic industries.

Zimbabwe is in a post reconstruction period following years of decline and the country’s begging bowl was extended to Sadc culminating in the regional body approving a US$10 billion bailout package.

Analysts are wary that Zimbabwe will provide the right environment to investors.

To date there are still outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement that ushered in an inclusive government in March and analysts say would- be investors will watch from a distance until the issues are resolved.