HARARE – Nelson Chamisa, former opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, has expressed concern over the massive brain drain Zimbabwe is experiencing, citing the numerous calls he receives daily from professionals seeking to leave the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere.
According to Chamisa, this trend has been ongoing for the past 20 years, with Zimbabweans pleading for assistance and guidance on how to exit the country.
“My daily agony is waking up every day to the lived nightmare of receiving yet another call from a fellow Zimbabwean desperate to leave the country searching for what is believed to be greener pastures.
“This is a story I have experienced repeatedly for the past 20 years,” Chamisa wrote on his X handle.
“Often, these calls are not just conversations; they are pleas for assistance, requests for guidance on finding a way to exit and escape to a perceived better life and future.
“The sheer scale of brain drain we are experiencing is staggering.
“As a nation, we are hemorrhaging talent and gifts, losing the very citizens we have invested in and educated (with meager resources for that matter), to other economies, where they go to build and strengthen economies elsewhere.”
Chamisa attributes this crisis to a lack of effective leadership, stating that those in power have failed to address the issue. He emphasised that any serious leadership would not allow this brain drain to continue unchecked.
He added that consequences of this trend are far-reaching, with Zimbabwe’s economy suffering as its best minds are exported to other countries.
The brain drain phenomenon has been a longstanding challenge for Zimbabwe, with various studies highlighting its implications for sustainable development. The country’s medical sector has also been severely impacted, with many healthcare professionals seeking opportunities abroad.
“We cannot continue with a situation where all of us, as a people, are perennially preoccupied with finding a way out of our own country. I am yet to see a nation that thrives when the bulk of its best minds are outside it. It can’t,” the former opposition leader said.
“It has become a common disposition for citizens to go seeking opportunities in other countries. The motivation being that the grass is greener elsewhere.
“Granted, the grass always seems greener elsewhere, but it should be greenest wherever we are. Yet, right now, that green grass is benefitting no one here—except a select few.”
Many people are leaving Zimbabwe due to a combination of economic hardship, political instability, and limited opportunities, leading to a massive brain drain.
In January 2024, Chamisa resigned abruptly from the opposition CCC he had founded two years before in January 2022.
In a 13-page statement Chamisa resigned saying his party had been “contaminated” and “hijacked” by the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and that “I will have nothing to do with sewer politics.”
“The original CCC idea has however been contaminated, bastardized, hijacked by ZANU PF through the abuse of State institutions,” he said.
Over a year after his resignation the charismatic opposition leader has faced growing criticism for taking too long to announce a new party or signal which direction he intends to pursue.
Instead he has devoted a lot of time to sharing bible verses and giving biblical analogies much to the annoyance of his loyal base.
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