By Anonymous Analyst| Allow me to thank President Emmerson Dambudzo Munangagwa for creating time to meet with some Zimbabweans in New York on Sunday September 23rd, 2018. This was an important step in opening dialogue with Zimbabweans in diaspora who are an important part in the rebuilding of Zimbabwe and is appreciated. Zimbabweans in Diaspora remit about $1 billion in foreign currency per year. To put things in perspective, Zimbabwe’s 2013 annual budget was $3.09 billion. The remittance by the Zimbabweans in diaspora represents a third of the national budget. This Meeting was a critical first step in building broken relationships with Zimbabweans in diaspora. It is my hope that the President will continue meeting with other Zimbabweans in diaspora in other countries.

I glued my eyes to my laptop throughout the meeting but was dismally disappointed. While I appreciated the cordial relationship in the room, it was clear that it was a ZANU PF organized meeting meant to impress the President and present resumes. In my view, ZANU PF supporters, MDC supporters, and nonpartisan Zimbabweans should have pressed the President on important and critical issues that pertain to the rebuilding of Zimbabwe. People who attended the meeting raised some important issues but did not address other critical issues that affect ordinary Zimbabweans and a chance for DFI. I expected the following issues to be presented to the President (among other issues);

Fiscal irresponsibility. There is a lot of fiscal irresponsibility going on in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe chartered a new plane for the former First lady for about $1.4 million dollars to attend her mother’s funeral while people were dying of cholera. Was this being fiscally responsible Mr. President? The Zimbabwean government bought 226 vehicles for chiefs in a country where hospitals lack ambulances and medicine and schools are dilapidated. Looking at the quality of the vehicles, I estimate they cost about $50K each, a total of over $11 million dollars. Our health infrastructure is gone, our roads are death traps killing hundreds daily, sewage and water are sharing the same pipes. Clean water is now for a privileged few. All government ministers will soon or already got their new expensive vehicles. People who attended the new York meeting with the President missed an important opportunity to separate issues from issues.

Human Rights violations. The same weekend the President was addressing people in New York, It is alleged that the street preacher, Pastor Talent Chiwenga was abducted and his whereabouts were not known. Itai Dzamara has been missing for three and a half years. Zimbabwe has one of the best intelligence systems in the whole world. If a puppy goes missing, our intelligence can find it. Mr. President, have you done your best to find Itai Dzamara? Would you go to bed knowing that your son Emmerson Jr., Colin, or Sean is missing? After elections, several people were reported missing or fled their homes due to political persecution because they belonged to the opposition. Is this your new dispensation? Mr. President, who ordered soldiers to go into the streets to shoot civilians on August 1st? You are the Commander-in-Chief and there is chain of command in the army. You assembled a Commission of Inquiry with some people from outside Zimbabwe. What is the Commission of Inquiry going to inquire into; where the soldiers came from, who sent them, names of the soldiers, did the soldiers shoot people? People who attended the New York meeting missed an important opportunity to address important human rights issues with the President.

Diaspora Vote Denial. The people in the diaspora were denied their constitutional right to vote in the recent harmonized elections. Why? Mr. President, will the Zimbabweans in diaspora be allowed to vote in 2023 and how can we make this happen? Bragging about Zimbabweans in diaspora remitting $60 million per month yet denying them their constitutional right to vote is taxation without representation. Asking Zimbabweans in diaspora to come back to rebuild Zimbabwe when the current unemployment rate is 95% was disingenuous. University graduates have turned into vendors because there are no jobs. The people who attended the New York meeting with the President missed an important opportunity get the diaspora vote addressed in full.

There is wisdom in the statement that keep your friends closer and your enemy closer. This seemed not to be the case with the people who attended the New York meeting with the. The invitation to the meeting was not open to all Zimbabweans and appeared to have been sent only to a selective known ZANU PF supporters. This was evidenced by the fact that when someone mentioned that they were an MDC T party supporter, there was jeering from the audience, an indication that he was not welcome in the room.

While President Munangagwa ran as a ZANU PF presidential candidate, he is no longer a ZANU PF candidate but now the President for all Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe is not going to be rebuilt by ZANU PF supporters only but by all Zimbabweans. Allowing an opposition party supporter to be jeered by ZANU PF supporters in a meeting led by the President was not patriotic but partisan. The “ED Pfee” slogan at the New York meeting made it very clear that this was a meeting for ZANU PF supporters, not all Zimbabweans who are interested in rebuilding Zimbabwe.

Thank you, Mr. President, for making the effort to meet with Zimbabweans in diaspora and I hope you will continue to do so. Please invite both your friends and foes to your parties. Let’s work together to rebuild Zimbabwe. Let me conclude by summarizing critical issues which will define your presidency. There are gross human rights violations in Zimbabwe. This has to stop. There is gross fiscal irresponsibility in Zimbabwe. Priorities are misplaced, and this has to stop. People in diaspora have a constitutional right to vote. We can all go to our embassies in our countries of residence and cast our vote. If the Zimbabweans in diaspora are indeed the first line of Zimbabwean Ambassadors, surely, we deserve to vote and we deserve to let you know Mr. President that the government is being fiscally irresponsible and human rights are being grossly violated.