RSA: Passage of seasonal Zimbabwean migrants eased

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.

PM’s Office urges repeal of citizenship laws

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.

Our Voting Rights

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.

Latest NGO Job Offers in Zim

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

Time to lure back Zimbabweans in the Diaspora — PM

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.

Optimism as Zimbabwe Inflation Figures go Down

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.