Mr President Sir, I Say, NO Red Carpet for Diasporians, True Zimbabweans Come First
To my brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, black or white and all true Zimbabweans.
I write this note with deep sadness, anger and disbelief following recent reports urging “airport authorities to roll out the red carpet for diaspora tourists upon their arrival in Zimbabwe.” For a nation that fought a protracted and painful war of liberation, this posture is deeply offensive and insulting.
It suggests that Zimbabwe has reached a point where it celebrates those returning from foreign lands, including former colonial powers, while neglecting and marginalising the very citizens who never abandoned the country.Zimbabwe’s independence was not gifted, it was earned through blood, sacrifice and immense suffering.
Thousands died so that Zimbabweans could reclaim dignity, sovereignty and control over their own destiny. To now prioritise and symbolically honour individuals arriving with foreign passports, many from the very countries that once oppressed us, is to dishonour that sacrifice.
These actions raises one very painful but unavoidable question, if the highest recognition in independent Zimbabwe is reserved for those who left and acquired foreign citizenship, then what was the purpose of the liberation struggle?The reality today is uncomfortable but undeniable. A significant number of our legislators and senior officials hold foreign passports, including those of former colonising nations.
Those who do not are actively ensuring that their children will acquire such passports. This behaviour speaks louder than any political slogan. It reflects a lack of confidence in the future of the country by those entrusted to govern it.
Yet instead of confronting this failure, the State now proposes to celebrate returnees at our airports, while ordinary Zimbabweans at home continue to struggle daily for survival.
The Zimbabwean who stayed behind endured economic collapse, hyperinflation, sanctions, currency instability, deindustrialisation and the steady erosion of public services. These citizens did not remain because life was easy they remained because Zimbabwe is their home.
They queued for transport, watched pensions evaporate, struggled to pay school fees and lived through years of uncertainty. These are the people who carried the nation through its darkest periods and they are the ones who deserve dignity, recognition and priority.
By rolling out red carpets for the diaspora while ignoring citizens on the ground, the message being sent is both dangerous and demoralising. It suggests that foreign passports are more valuable than loyalty, that those who left matter more than those who stayed and that external validation matters more than internal resilience.
A truly sovereign nation does not glorify departure while neglecting endurance. Nor does it place foreigners and external interests ahead of its own people.If there is to be any symbolic honour in this country, it should be reserved for the teacher who stayed in the classroom despite poor pay, the nurse who remained in understaffed hospitals, the war veteran who never left, the pensioner who survived the collapse of savings and the youth who never obtained a visa but still hopes for a future in Zimbabwe.
These are the true pillars of the nation.I therefore state this clearly and without apology, Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe must come first.
Not diasporans, not foreign investors given preferential treatment and not citizens of other nations elevated above their own people.
Patriotism is not measured by arrivals at international airports, but by who stood firm when the country was on its knees.To my Government and to Parliament, I say a big NO to this nonsense.
Do not insult the liberation struggle.
Do not rewrite history at the airport. Do not reward flight and punish loyalty.
Zimbabweans who endured and survived at home must come first or else the very meaning of Zimbabwean independence is lost.
Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi+263772278161
