Global Policy Forum

Tandayi Motsi

How low can one sink for the love of money and how much are you prepared to give up to earn the (British) pound? As the bug of 'getting rich quicker earning the pound' catches up with many Zimbabweans, thousands of trained professionals are trading their prestigious jobs for menial shifts in developed countries, particularly the United Kingdom.

Among them is Gerald Kireso (not his real name), a qualified lawyer, who left his job with a local firm last year in search of greener pastures in the UK. However, the pastures were not that greener as Kireso found himself having to drive garbage collection trucks instead of a previous prestigious office job. Before joining the overseas exodus, his parents envisaged a brilliant career ahead of him. However, such dreams have now been shattered.

Kireso cannot practice as a lawyer in the UK because he does not have a working permit. And when he made the decision to go to that country he also decided to give up his status and self-respect as a lawyer. Yes, back home with the proceeds from UK, Kireso has managed to build a nice house in the suburb of ZimRe Park, popularly known as "kumapondo" in reference to the pound. He has also invested in various businesses, a price for throwing away self-respect and status. Over the past few years Zimbabwe has witnessed an upsurge in the number of professionals living the country in search of greener pastures. Apart from the UK, the professionals are also heading to United States and Australia.

Many of these graduates, with the exception of some nurses, doctors and pharmacists fail to be absorbed in their mainstream professions because of lack of the required paperwork, hence, they end up doing menial jobs. Such odd jobs include ironing clothes, sweeping and looking after the elderly at old people's homes. "You have to swallow your pride and do the menial jobs otherwise living in the UK can be quite a nightmare for you," said a former teacher who returned recently from UK. She said some Zimbabweans were regretting leaving their professions in that country because they were failing to make ends meet in the UK. "Some of them want to come back but they having nothing to show for their stay in the UK so they are soldiering on with the hope that they either build a house or do something of significance back home," she said. In the UK, she said, it was common to see former Zimbabwean teachers and other professionals working as security guards. The rate at which Zimbabweans and other foreigners have been flocking to UK in recent years has forced the host country to consider introducing Aids tests for asylum seekers in a bid to halt the Aids tide.

Statistics made public recently by the UK government showed that 54 193 people were HIV-positive in Britain - with the number rising by about 10 percent a year. The report indicated that some hospitals were spending their Aids budgets treating "imported" nurses. Hospitals officials said a couple received treatment worth 11 000 pounds a year for the rest of their lives. However, while the Zimbabwean professionals are playing in greater role in the development of the UK's economy, the impact of the brain-drain back home has been far reaching.

Indeed, Zimbabwe is going through its worst economic difficulties in history and there is no doubt that the brain drain is compounding the situation. The exodus is stalling the country's development because of the huge deficit in manpower that retards economic development. The health sector has been the worst affected by the exodus of qualified staff. Even the bonding system introduced by the Government a few years ago has failed to effectively halt the brain drain. It is a fact that the brain drain in the health sector has crippled the health delivery service as the remaining personnel is struggling to cope up with the huge workload. The situation has been compounded by the shortage of foreign currency to procure medical drugs.

The Government has found itself in a situation whereby it trains personnel for other countries. President Mugabe last year castigated Britain for "coming at the dead of the night to steal" nurses, doctors and pharmacists. "We have created the environment that allows that upliftment of nurses. "That's why even Britain comes in the dead of the night to steal our people," he had said. It is estimated that at least 70 000 highly qualified Africans leave their home countries annually.

With the fast ageing population, western countries have become increasingly dependent on migrant workers to fill the void. A report by the Pollution Research Group at Natal University in South Africa shows that Africa has lost a third of its skilled professionals in recent decades and it is costing the continent $4 billion a year to replace them with expatriates from the West. The brain drain, the report says, has strangled growth of the economy and nurtured poverty in the African countries.

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