adminZIMBABWEANS have been encouraged to invest locally, attain an education and desist from migrating to other countries, as there are better opportunities if people come together to work towards nation building, a diplomat has said.
Outgoing Ambassador of Zimbabwe to South Africa Phelekezela Report Mphoko said a number of locals living in neigbouring South Africa were suffering and prone to xenophobic attacks.
He said it made little sense for people to go to South Africa to do menial jobs.
“South Africa has nothing for Zimbabweans at all, why go and be a victim of xenophobic attacks when you have a peaceful nation,” he asked.
The former ambassador said in the years he spent in South Africa he had encounters with many Zimbabweans who were failing to make ends meet.
“Each week I travelled to Hilbrow in Johannesburg where I saw many of our brothers and sisters suffering, they barely had places to stay or even jobs so why suffer when you are in a foreign land, people should just come back home and attain an education,” said Amb Mphoko who served the country from 2011 until this year.
He encouraged Zimbabweans to return home and revive the economy than to remain jobless in a nation that is not theirs.
He said a sizable number of Zimbabweans were doing menial jobs and earned very little to sustain decent lives.
The former ambassador was also pained by the number of Zimbabweans who are dying in the neighbouring country and how much trauma parents and guardians go through in repatriating dead bodies.
He said a minimum of 30 bodies cross the border each week from South Africa which was too high a figure.
“It hurts me so much to see the number of our people dying in South Africa, more than 30 bodies are brought in each week at the Beitbridge border post and it’s the very young people that are economically active that are coming to be buried. It is too much to bear,” lamented Amb Mphoko.
He said Zimbabweans were succumbing to incurable diseases at an alarming rate which is counterproductive because they were failing to come and work for their country.
Amb Mphoko said parents were failing to encourage their children to take education seriously and were actually encouraging them to do menial jobs across the border.
He urged parents to take education seriously and sacrifice for it rather than sacrificing for money when their children die.
“It is funny how parents can sell a few beasts to transport corpses of their children who die in South Africa back home but fail to sell the same beasts to take them to school. Are they saying they are only able to make an effort when their children die,” he questioned.
Amb Mphoko said the thinking that there were many opportunities in South Africa did not hold water.
Many foreigners, Zimbabweans included, have been victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa over issues to do with employment. It is widely believed the South Africans feel they are being deprived of employment opportunities as there is an influx of foreigners whom they accuse of taking away opportunities meant for them.
Online Reporter