By Davet Muzwidzwa

IF figures that are suggested by IOM and other NGOs are to go by, there could be in excess of 3,5 million Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.
We can do a bit of mathematics on this productive population.
If on average each one of them earns US$200 per month, they all earn US$700 million per month and US$8,4 billion per year.
If 3,5 million Diasporans is an average figure over the past 14 years, then collectively they have earned US$117,6 billion over the period.
We are not interested in what they earned, we want to arrive at the surplus value of their labour, which is the new value created by workers in excess of their own labour-cost.
If their labour cost is 25 percent of the surplus value, we can argue that the Zimbabweans abroad have generated surplus value of US$470,4 billion.
This is how important Zimbabweans living abroad are to the economies they are sustaining.
My worry is whether they went abroad as Zimbabweans or Afro-Rhodesians.
If they went abroad as Zimbabweans, we have a lot to gain from their outing. However, if they are abroad as Afro-Rhodesians, Zimbabwe would have to deal with some challenges arising from their stay abroad.
We are not the first to export human capital.
England exported Englishmen all over the world.
France, Spain, Portugal and many other European countries did the same.
What kind of men and women did they export to the Americas, Africa, Asia and Pacific.
They chose among themselves, men and women who literally worshiped their national flag.
As for England, their citizens could face any perils in the name of their Queen. They would ruthlessly deal with obstacles preventing them from presenting their queen with a gift.
Some of them became permanent residents of faraway lands.
They named many places after their queen.
Queensland in Australia, Lake Victoria in East Africa and in Zimbabwe many places and structures were named after the queen; Victoria Falls, Fort Victoria, Queens Hotel, Queensdale and so forth.
Their Diasporans never broke the umbilical code with their home country. Imagine, they continued to be called Europeans several hundreds of years after settling.
Look at the flags they created in the lands they occupied; they were all variations of the British flag.
Even the American flag that removed the crossing red lines, it maintained the lines.
Some of the territories occupied by the British remain property of the queen to this day.
Most of the land they occupied was put in a basket regarded as the Commonwealth of the British.
To date 53 countries are in the Commonwealth.
Could we have such love of home country from our Zimbabweans living abroad?
Yes we do have patriotic Zimbabweans abroad.
We also have miseve yakaenda neuta among the Zimbabweans living abroad. Some have described themselves as political refugees exiled by their own country.
Some have cooked up stories that cannot even be imitated in fiction films in a desperate effort to live abroad.
Some went to the extent of opening up radio stations in foreign lands designed to demonise their own country.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Most of the bad image Zimbabwe has abroad was painted by her own sons and daughters unfortunately.
These sons and daughters are the ones who will tell Tsikamutanda kuti amai vangu vanoroya.
Whatever the inducement, it would be less normal to sacrifice your mother for pieces of silver.
A Zimbabwean in his or her normal senses will not do that.
The only other explanation to this is the Rhodesian demon which was cast in concrete at Matombo (Matopos).
This spirit of Cecil John Rhodes converted Zimbabweans into Afro-Rhodesians and continues to do so to this day.
Pastors have managed to cast many demons but not the Afro-Rhodesian demon. Disguised as modernisation, this demon despises anything African; our culture, our rulers, our Government, our monuments, our history and our collective memory.
This demon wants us to quickly forget who we are in order to become who we are not.
Why don’t we learn from the Indian community in Zimbabwe?
They continue to be called Indians wherever they are in the world despite the fact that some may not know where India is.
They educate their children in the same way children in India are going to school.
They are proud to be Indians wherever you find them.
Even Rhodes’ demon would not come anywhere near Indians even when they lived in Rhodesia.
If only our brothers and sisters could cast away the Afro-Rhodesian demon, Zimbabwe could benefit from exporting its 3,5 million sons and daughters of the soil.
They would remit most of their surplus earnings home to develop their country not send groceries only.
They would all be ambassadors of Zimbabwe wherever they are.
Imagine 3,5 million voices in the world singing praises of their beloved Zimbabwe, who will not follow the chorus.
They would import technologies they find relevant home to uplift the standards of living of their brothers and sisters they left home.
They would not change names to hide their true identity as Zimbabweans.
If only they could cast away the Rhodesian demon cast in the Zimbabwean stone.