For me the greatest tragedy when it came to Zimbabwe was the mismanagement of the economy and state sanctioned corruption under the government of Robert Mugabe and not necessarily the lack of human rights. Other African countries also have bad human rights record e.g the treatment of the opposition leader and the disregard of the high court order in Zambia and the reported sham presidential elections in Rwanda. However these other countries manage economies properly making sure that their citizens stay home. Just look at the huge number of Zimbabweans in South Africa as compared to other nationalities.I left Zimbabwe in 2007 and as I have previously written in my blog the reason was to escape a failing economy. As the saying goes-Its the economy stupid!
So on 2 October 2017 I completed serving my 4 week's notice after 10 years of service with my employer in Pretoria. That same night, I took a bus to Harare. I would spend most of October 2017 between Harare, Chivhu and Mutoko concentrating on my piggery project that I already spent over $20 000 to develop. I also planned to farm tobacco since now I had the time. When I saw the devaluation of the bond note currency I decided against farming. After I had sourced feed that could last almost three months I came back to South Africa.I was fortunate that I got my terminal benefits within 4 weeks and I had a few hundred thousand Rands in my bank account and I let it stay there for more than a month. One thing was clearer I was not going to invest more money in Zimbabwe due to the economic distortions caused by bond notes. I had even considered taking our family back home to Zimbabwe and me and maNyoni we both decided that our kids had better prospects in South African.
Around December 2017 and January 2018, there was a dry spell that affected a lot of crops. I visited my in laws in Chivhu as well as my cousin in Mutoko, the situation was the same. I did share some of the photos of the wilting crops on Facebook. There is something that I did not disclose. Less than 1km from my in-laws' 35 hectare farm there is a big dam that was left by the previous white farmer and non of the new farmers have put up irrigation facilities. Also in Mutoko where my cousin stays there is a perennial river next to his plot.
A Chinese made diesel heavy duty water pump costs around $1 000. If I decide to buy the latest I phone it will be much more expensive than that. The question is will you get a return on your capital. I want to be honest, at times I have asked my self whether we did the right thing building and investing in Zimbabwe. Every time I go home with my wife, she is always chiding me about not completing our main house. I always remember the pain that I endured from 2009 to 2010 when I had to work overtime almost everyday, share houses and even rooms with the strangers to raise the money to build our two bedroom cottage in Zimbabwe. Now ever since bond notes came we battled to get rent and we ended up chasing away our tenants. The irony is that our home in Zimbabwe is far more spacious and comfortable than the one we stay in Pretoria. The question is will we ever go back to live in Zimbabwe?
As I previously shared with my friends on social media, I ended up deciding to vote for Mr Mnangagwa on the eve of the election after Robert Mugabe endorsed Chamisa. I was regretting my vote for ED after the post election violence where soldiers shot unarmed citizens. My message to president Mnangagwa is that if he let his economic team do their work unhindered he will have the support of many citizens both in and out of the country. It is hard being a foreigner, many people wants to come back home and are willing to invest their hard earned money back in Zimbabwe. We do not want handouts, all we want is a conducive economic environment.
With a functioning economy, there is no need to rig elections because citizens rewards good work, he just needs to look to Botswana Democratic Party and Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania which had been winning clean elections for years.
Its the economy stupid! I believe the only way for Zimbabwe now is up.
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