ON Wednesday, we woke up to a tweet by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, where he said his government supported the United States’ plan to deport Zimbabwean citizens in that country illegally.
Wrote Mnangagwa: “The government of Zimbabwe supports the United States government’s decision to repatriate and return our Zimbabwean citizens who may have been residing in the US illegally.”
United States President Donald Trump’s administration plans to deport more than 500 undocumented Zimbabweans as part of his government’s mass deportation policy.
The policy will result in at least 1 445 549 non-citizens being deported under a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement programme since November 2022.
The return of Zimbabweans is a good thing, but then there is nothing to come back for.
If truth be told, Zanu PF has presided over the collapse of the economy, companies, health, education, energy, sport sector, you name them.
To add insult to injury, Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe castigated Zimbabweans facing deportation from the US for opposing Zanu PF, adding that they should come back home and help to build the country.
Garwe said the deportation of African nationals by the American president was for Zimbabwe’s own good.
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There is nothing to build in Zimbabwe as long as the country’s leaders are not showing any commitment towards that.
It’s all rhetoric.
Their cronies and family members are granted huge tenders which they have no capacity to execute.
They get down payments and disappear into thin air and nothing happens to them save for a slap on the wrist.
So what’s there to build when the leaders and their cronies are using the sledge hammer to raze down anything in their path.
They believe it’s their time to ride on the gravy train hence they should loot as much as they can, lest they are ejected.
The Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo mantra is hollow.
Many have tried start-up projects only to be disappointed after presenting them to government officials, who pass them on to their proxies and they present the ideas as their own.
Those who are facing deportation from the US are there because they ran away from economic mismanagement back home in Zimbabwe.
The United Kingdom has seen a rise in the number of migrants from Zimbabwe.
They, too, are economic refugees.
South Africa is saddled with a huge number of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants in that country.
Figures show that there are nearly 300 000 Zimbabweans who are legally in that country after benefiting from the permit dispensation since 2010.
Many others evade law enforcement agents on daily basis because they are undocumented.
Something is surely wrong in this teapot-shaped country.
We all thought that the Robert Mugabe era had gone with its ills, but we have realised that it was mere change of face hence people are still running away from poverty under Mnangagwa’s administration.
It goes to show that it’s party politics and policies that are wrong.
It’s Zanu PF which is fatally wrong.
As the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said, the returnees could find it difficult to reintegrate into a country grappling with high unemployment, inflation and limited social services.
“Returning citizens will need significant support to reintegrate into society. Without proper mechanisms in place, we risk creating a cycle of poverty and displacement,” said legal expert Aaron Hamauswa about the deportations.
Thus the government must address the root causes of migration, namely unemployment and poor governance, among others.
