The Diaspora, an indispensable member of the Zim family

By Chofamba Sithole

The ongoing constitutional reform exercise comes at a time when there’s been a marked transformation in the spatial distribution of the Zimbabwean nation. Estimates vary, but there’s a general consensus that up to a quarter of Zimbabwe’s population – over three million people – now live in exile.

The Zimbabwean Diaspora is scattered across four continents, but with discernible concentrations in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Driven by the country’s protracted economic and political crisis to seek opportunities and refuge elsewhere, Zimbabweans in exile have nonetheless remained connected with their homeland.

The majority lead parallel lives in which they exert themselves emotionally and materially to sustain livelihoods both in their countries of domicile as well as in Zimbabwe.

These binding ties mean that the Diaspora, quite rightly, considers himself an intrinsic and indispensable member of the Zimbabwean family and not merely a disparate person who traces his or her origins to Zimbabwe.

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