Give Zimbabweans in the diaspora same incentives as foreign investors-Parliament says

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and Industry says Zimbabweans in the diaspora wishing to invest in the country must be given the same incentives as foreign investors.

“As it is now, the money which is coming in; these are just remittances which are for domestic use, we now need money for our industrial development,” Committee chair Kindness Paradza said.

“For that, we need the government to come out with clear incentives which are the same as those given to foreign investors through FDIs. We need that for our own Zimbabweans.”

Zimbabweans, especially in South Africa, have expressed keen interest to invest in the development of the country and are already involved in revamping the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

They have also expressed interest in investing in Air Zimbabwe.

“The government must also come up with a clear Diaspora Policy with incentives. In other words, we need to incentivise our Zimbabweans who are either working or staying abroad so that it is attractive for them to come and reinvest here in Zimbabwe,” Paradza said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa who has already been to Mozambique, Namibia, Angola and Ethiopia is urging Zimbabweans abroad to invest in business at home.

He told Zimbabweans in Ethiopia that his administration is not going to stall projects just because Zimbabweans are not ready or do not have the money to invest.

Full contribution:

HON. PARADZA: I rise to present a report for two ministries of Foreign Affairs and Industry. I am going to marry the two in terms of my preamble because their operations are sort of intertwined.

From our observation, Zimbabwe right now has a broken brand and needs some rebranding. These budgets were done before these ministries were configured and therefore, my Committee urges the Minister to have a re-look at the whole budget to make sure that he factors in the rebranding and also the new mandates. For example, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; there is now a new responsibility to do with international trade but the budget does not cater for that. We are happy though that you allocated $49 million to the Ministry from last year’s $35 million.

However, as I have said before, you did not take into account a lot of work which is going to be done in terms of rebranding Zimbabwe and re-engagement with the international community. The President was very clear when he said that Zimbabwe is now 17 years behind. Therefore, we need to catch up. In order to catch up, we need to hire some consultancy to make sure that we rebrand Zimbabwe.

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