Online Reporter
Herald Correspondent
The Diaspora community should invest back home and stop confusing empowerment or enforcement of the country’s laws with hostility.
Speaking during the Zimbabwe Business Expo held in South Africa over the weekend, Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution, Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti said: “Come and invest your money where it means a lot.
“We have to start from somewhere. A normal three-bedroom house in Zimbabwe, in Kuwadzana or anywhere, costs US$20 000, which is just under R400 000. At a saving ratio of R3 000 a month, within a space of seven years, you would have paid off for a house which is sitting on 400 square meters. So sometimes it’s not about going for the top-tier, but starting somewhere.”
He also implored Zimbabweans to ignore negative narratives about the country’s policies.
“You did not burn your village when you came to South Africa, home is home,” he said.
“And what we have tried to do is to try and declassify or demystify some of the challenges that we have seen.
“I will give you an example: one of the fundamental mistakes that we make is we confuse empowerment and enforcement with hostility. If there is anything that we have vowed to do, especially my generation of leaders, if you can see, we are all young here, it is to ensure that the first thing that we want to do is to defend our economy.”
Eng Muguti said the recent blitz over smuggling of goods saw the country raking in over US$20 million in duties and levies over the festive holiday alone.
He also told Zimbabweans, particularly those in South Africa, to stop smuggling, saying it was one of the major reasons behind inflation.
“I will give you an instance of the most controversial thing which happened in December, where you would find we said no to smuggling.
“For the first time, when we tried this in December, just over the Christmas period, the Zimbabwean Government collected over US$20 million in duties and levies, which ordinarily we were not collecting.”
