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News from the Open Forum 2006: Zimbabwe Skills and Reconstruction
British Zimbabwe Society (BZS)
September 27, 2006

Over 200 Zimbabweans gathered in London last Saturday for the Britain Zimbabwe Society's Open Forum 2006, which this year focused on skills and reconstruction in Zimbabwe. Headline speakers included Thabitha Khumalo of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Rev. Nicholas Mkaronda of the Crisis Coalition in South Africa and Dr Stephen Munjanja, consultant obstetrician based at Harare Hospital. Their message was clear and urgent; Zimbabweans in the diaspora cannot wait for the crisis in Zimbabwe to be over before they engage in the process of reconstruction; the time to act is now.

When Thabitha Khumalo brought fresh news of the brutal treatment of those detained over the planned mass action in Zimbabwe earlier in the week the challenge to act was taken up immediately. Activists in the UK had prepared a list of phone numbers of police stations and some of the government officials in Zimbabwe who bear responsibility for injustices and these were made available to participants. Armed with Patrick Chinamasa`s personal mobile number, Jeremy Dear, Secretary General of the UK National Union of Journalists, who was chairing the meeting, fired off a text message to the Minister for Justice there and then.

In spite of the distressing news from home the meeting was able to focus on positive initiatives. Dr Steven Munjanja, in a session chaired by Lela Kogbara of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), emphasised the value of linking up professional organisations such as the Zimbabwe Nurses Association with sister organisations abroad. He stressed that it was important to work on specific and achievable objectives and suggested an example of this might be to address the shortage of learning resources by creating e-books and learning materials on CDs for nurses at home. Nicholas Mkaronda confirmed the importance of organisations working together and gave as an example the work the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe is doing with the Crisis Coalition in South Africa. Together they are lobbying for teacher registration to combat the exploitation of qualified Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa. Similarly Forward Maisokwadzo, of the Exiled Journalists Network, outlined the support given to Zimbabwean journalists in the UK by Britain`s National Union of Journalists.

Thabitha Khumalo reminded the conference that reconstruction is a development issue that goes beyond politics and highlighted the importance of investing in education. `Zimbabweans believe in education` she declared `don`t stop learning - keep hitting on those books while you are away from home` and Forward Maisokwadzo urged those studying in Britain to undertake research that focuses on Zimbabwe.

Nicholas Mkaronda acknowledged the importance of the work of media practitioners and media outlets such as The Zimbabwean newspaper, SWRadioAfrica and the Southern Times in Botswana in helping to keep expats informed on what is happening on the ground in Zimbabwe and in touch with one another. He also highlighted the role the business community can play giving the example of a successful Zimbabwean entrepreneur abroad who is providing school fees for four hundred orphans in Zimbabwe.

Many in the audience spoke of their concerns at the way that UK immigration policy impacts on Zimbabweans. Restrictions on finding employment for those awaiting decisions on immigration status were a particular problem and, the forum agreed, a major contributor to de-skilling . Shane Lunga of Zimbabwe Futures described the work his organisation was doing in lobbying the British Government to allow exiled professionals to return to their countries temporarily to help reconstruction without losing their UK immigration status. People also expressed frustration at the seemingly arbitrary decisions made on visa applications. Ironically, even if Raymond Majongwe, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers Union, had not been imprisoned during the ZCTU mass action he would have been prevented from taking up his invitation to address the forum because the British had denied him a visa.

More difficult issues came under the spotlight too. The fragmentation of the diaspora was noted as was the tendency to concentrate on family links rather than organisational ones. Although dozens of organisations have been set up to serve the Zimbabwean community, there is a need to create a structure for pooling resources and working more closely with each other. Through the speakers presentations and the contributions from the audience it became apparent that organizations set up abroad must work in tandem with organizations in Zimbabwe if they are to be productive and informed. Just as individuals communicate directly with their families to understand their needs and find the most effective ways to offer help, so too organizations in the diaspora need to interact with civil society organisations at home.

The BZS Open Forum 2006 has showed that the diasporic community is active and very much alive to the unfolding events in Zimbabwe and that people want to and can contribute to reconstruction at home. But it has also become clear that for their contribution to have a more significant impact there needs to be some structure through which individuals and organisations can come together more frequently to coordinate initiatives. As Thabitha Khumalo pointed out, using the maxim of Zimbabwe`s National Association of Non Governmental Organisations, `Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and staying together is success`.

A copy of the full forum report will be available soon at www.britainzimbabwe.org.uk ; to join the forum mailing list and be alerted to future and similar events e-mail zimforum2006@yahoo.co.uk

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