By Pearson Mbendera.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – With about 244 million people of the world’s population living as migrants, some countries have been looking for ways to restrict the entry of foreigners into their countries, especially those looking to stay for a while longer.
While reading a recent report on the growth of unemployment in South Africa, reaching a 13 year high, I was concerned about what that might mean to the immigrants there. With a huge number of Zimbabwans working and living in South Africa, and many other nationalities there, I thought of what that would mean to their unemployment rate had these people ben living in their countries.
Having had a couple of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, the question of immigration and its effects on the nations on the receiving end of such massive movement of people needs serious addressing before people start turning on each other in a violent manner.
With BREXIT and the election of Donald Trump, having immigration issues at the core of their campaigns, there is growing concerns of immigration the world over. But how can the problem of immigration be solved?
While some countries have benefited from having migrants coming and settling in their land, some benefits have come at a cost to the locals. Sometimes the economy doesn’t really look much at the natives, their GDP per capita might grow high, while it is the immigrants doing the work and earning that money. Does it really matter to have a lot only on paper when you are poor in real life. There are a lot of factors that some economic statistics may overlook. To the capitalist, they just want someone who is good at their job, it doesn’t matter much about their nationality. And if that person can come cheap like most immigrants do, then the better it is for the profitability of the company.
With the world becoming more of a one global village, surely the attraction of moving from one country to the other is on the ris. But it doesn’t come without a price.
True, many countries need a lot of people visiting their countries as tourists, stay for a while, sightseeing and spending their monies on the various tourist attractions that they have at their disposal, boosting the economy. but the people who travel as tourists are just a fraction of the world travellers, the real concern are those that travel to settle, some even settling illegally.
But it has worked well in other countries. The United Arab Emirates has the largest proportion of immigrants in the world, but that hasn’t negatively affected their economy. in fact, it has benefited a lot from the fruits of the hardwork of those coming into their country to seek employment. With vast resources and a growing tourist center, coupled with a small native population, the Emiratis wouldn’t have been able to service all those needs and still have a thriving economy. But opening their doors to other nations, considering the differences in culture and religion, surely has caused some hiccups.
There is a problem with immigration. But its not something we can easily fight, there are countries that will always be better than others, making it more desirable to leave one’s country to go and live in those countries. But the concept of immigration has problems of itself, and sometimes, it has been wrongfully tackled, either with violence or worse, and most of the time, talking about it, especially in a political manner, makes someone xenophobic.
The economy of Zimbabwe is at pathetic level, but not for lack of resources, we have it all here, the minerals, the land and the human resources to turn around the economy. We do cry about lack of foreign direct investment, but with all the billion of dollars tied in mineral deposits that are just going to foreigners and being lost in corruption, had all that money been harvested in Zimbabwe and by Zimbabweans, we wouldn’t need any foreign money but our own. In fact, we just might have run out of places to invest it in. But that’s not the case.
But while we have in some way reduced the burden of the economy (how bad would our unemployment rate be if all those in the diaspora were back home, searching for the same few jobs available on the job market), and the remittances from those working and living in the diaspora have managed to keep the foreign currency reserves of the country afloat, we have lost a great deal too.
We have produced a lot of educated people here, but lost on their talents due to the massive exodus of trained professionals in search of greener pastures beyond the borders of Zimbabwe.
Teachers, doctors, accountants, engineers, a lot of professional people have left the country. But we have kept on producing others, but they don’t have the employment opportunities here, forcing them to leave, while the nation rots in economic hell.
For most countries with people leaving their countries, maybe Zimbabwe has suffered a lot. We have missed out on top notch personnel, with the skills and potential to turn around the economy. For as long as we have the diaspora as a fall back plan for most of our youths and struggling Zimbabweans, we will not push for change in the country, we will just be limited to being the people who go out to enrich other countries, sometimes, at the risk of our lives. It is a problem right there, one that needs to be addressed.
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