Diaspora Zimbos snub constitution-making
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Wednesday, 20 April 2011 21:18
Wongai Zhangazha
ZIMBABWEANS in the diaspora have always vociferously complained about being
deliberately excluded from national processes by virtue of their physical
absence.
They have held night vigils in prominent world capitals demonstrating
against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe by the government and Zanu PF
supporters.
They have also tried to get the backing of Sadc and even turned to the
courts to force President Robert Mugabe’s government to allow postal voting.
While they seemed to campaign a lot for inclusion in the constitution-making
process, they have somehow snubbed the ongoing representations for a new
constitution.
Only a handful of them bothered to add their views through submissions via a
website set up as a platform for diaspora contributions by the
Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac).
Figures released by Copac last week showed that only a paltry 2 397
contributions were made by Zimbabweans in the diaspora via the website.
This is despite a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2010 report
titled “The Potential Contribution of the Zimbabwe Diaspora to Economic
Recovery” showing that at least three million Zimbabweans migrated to other
countries from 2000, when political tensions boiled over following the first
real challenge to Mugabe’s uninterrupted rule.
This basically means that a quarter of the Zimbabwean population is resident
in other countries.
Of these, an estimated 2,1 million are believed to be in South Africa while
the rest are spread over other countries that include the UK with 400 000,
and Botswana and elsewhere in Africa with 200 000 people.
About 50 000 are estimated to be in the US and Canada while Australia and
New Zealand have 20 000 and 50 000 are believed to be scattered in other
countries around the globe.
While economists and development experts agonise over how best to tap into
this huge human capital for the country’s economic recovery, politicians
have been making calculated moves to either include or exclude the
Zimbabwean diaspora from participating in electoral processes.
The MDC says that a majority of these Zimbabweans fled the country at the
height of political brutality and economic collapse on Mugabe’s watch and it
therefore assumes that if given a chance to vote, these millions would vote
against Mugabe.
On the other hand Zanu PF attacks them as sellouts and has vowed to deny
them the vote saying only those physically in the country can vote.
But Copac’s statistics might force a political rethink on whether their
demand to be allowed to vote is genuine or just a political gimmick.
Zimbabweans in the UK and SA demanded that the new constitution should give
them a right to vote in future elections and grant them dual citizenship.
Diaspora groups such as the London-based Council of Zimbabwe Christian
Leaders and Gabriel Shumba-led Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, among others,
requested Copac to include them in future processes and structures such as
the thematic committees, the second national stakeholders’ conference, the
drafting stage and the constitutional referendum.
Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora told the Zimbabwe Independent that
there was general apathy by the diaspora in contributing to the
constitutional outreach process.
He said: “It is important to appreciate that the diaspora was contributing
in three different forms which is through the website or collectively as an
organisation via the website and physically individual organisations through
institutional submissions. The number of contributions or entry on the
website does not necessarily reflect the number of people represented.
Sometimes they would contribute only to their area of interest.”
He said the lack of participation by the diaspora was a tragedy as it added
to the general scepticism about the Global Political Agreement.
“Unfortunately I think that was apathy on the part of the diaspora,”
Mwonzora said. “It reflects the general characteristics of Zimbabweans of
not doing something about their fate leaving it to other people to transform
the country of which they will only be total transformation if everyone
participates.
“I am sure a lot of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are waiting for a better
Zimbabwe. But they are leaving it to Zimbabweans within the country to
transform it alone. It’s a tragedy. I just hope they will continue
contributing adding their numbers because we really want their contribution
to come before the referendum.
“The other problem is that most Zimbabweans home and abroad do not trust
Zimbabwe prophecies under the GPA. We can only transform this country
through active participation,” he said.
Copac co-chairperson Paul Mangwana said Zimbabweans abroad had not shown
interest in the process and were only “concerned about their economic
survival”.
“It would have been a waste of resources for us (Copac) going there and
consulting them on what they want included in the new constitution. Zimbabwe
is now part of their history, not current affairs,” said Mangwana.
However, UK-based Zimbabwean journalist and community organiser, Chofamba
Sithole said with respect to the UK diaspora, Copac did not run any outreach
exercise including publicising the use of its website to harness submissions
from Zimbabweans outside the country.
“It isn’t a question of whether or not Copac did enough; rather, Copac didn’t
do anything remotely resembling a diaspora outreach exercise. Those who knew
about the Copac website and the Copac outreach programme itself are those
who are actively engaged with the situation back home and make every effort
to stay informed and involved.
“Diaspora groups themselves, such as (Zimbabwe Diaspora Development
Interface) ZDDI in the UK and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum in South Africa,
were largely responsible for initiating outreach programmes in their
communities and mobilising their own members’ funds to convene consultative
meetings from which views were gathered and submitted to Copac. Even these
self-initiatives were not without major barriers as it wasn’t clear which
team within Copac was responsible for liaising with the diaspora,” said
Chofamba.
He said Copac’s failed outreach to the diaspora was not in any way
indicative of the political interest of Zimbabweans abroad to participate in
national political processes.
“It has to be said that Copac’s stop-go outreach exercise was thoroughly
confusing and frustrating even to those in Zimbabwe. The interest of
Zimbabweans abroad to participate in national processes, especially voting,
is phenomenal.”
Shumba of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum said consultations were as broad as
could be from his side as well as other organisations in the UK. However,
because of shortages of resources “it was well nigh impossible to consult
all representatives of the diaspora”.
“From our standpoint, we are disappointed that not enough resources were
given to Copac to make a meaningful engagement with the diaspora.
However, on the issue of the website, we think that not many were informed
as the Copac website was often difficult to access. It is also important to
dispel the notion that many in the diaspora are economically empowered
enough to have access to the internet on a regular basis. In fact, the
opposite is true,” Shumba said.