Black and white, rich and poor, 'anyone who can' prepares to join mass exodus
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Your support makes all the difference.The re-election of President Robert Mugabe is expected to accelerate Zimbabwe's economic crisis and prompt a mass exodus of the professional and middle classes, both black and white
Many people had been waiting to see what happened this week before deciding whether to leave a country whose economy has shrunk by 30 per cent a year in the past two years and shed tens of thousands of jobs.
One of them was Ben Mbanga, a mechanical engineer. "Enough is enough," he said yesterday after a crowd of 2,000 led by a pistol-toting thug stormed the gold mine he works for in Kwekwe, south-west of Harare. He said: "They wanted to pan for gold to celebrate Mr Mugabe's victory. They forced their way in and started digging."
The people Zimbabwe can least afford to lose – the skilled and the wealthy – are prominent among those who will leave. Already more than two million Zimbabweans are living elsewhere, some 400,000 in Britain. A fresh exodus is likelyas people contemplate continued economic collapse and renewed invasions of farms and businesses. State television has announced that the take-overs will be speeded up now that Mr Mugabe has a popular mandate.
Many, but not all, of those planning to leave are well-off, and many have already tried to leave. In the first six weeks of this year, neighbouring South Africa caught some 7,000 migrants, most of them poor, who had risked swimming the crocodile-infested Limpopo River to seek a better life.
The shipping manager of one of the country's biggest removal companies said: "We're expecting an awful lot of people to leave now so we're gearing up. Most are going to Europe.
"The number of people going abroad rose sharply last year, and we're anticipating many, many more as people look into a future with a worthless currency, declining living standards, more violence and no jobs ... Most don't want to leave but feel they have to. Dual citizens are packing up and leaving for good."
A smaller shipping agent said: "Who's leaving? Everybody who can."
Jacob Mafume, a young lawyer in Harare, said he had been "paralysed" by concern for the future after the election result. He is staying put, believing that his human rights work will be needed now more than ever. His frozen productivity has not been helped by the departure of his secretary, who has gone to work in Britain.
Mr Mbanga sent his family to safety in Canada in November, after "war veterans" began arriving at his home at night and demanding money for retrenched workers.
"One night three truckloads of war veterans arrived and, in front of our kids, threatened us and demanded money. Things got ugly. This is not what you want your children to see. I was also taken hostage at the mine, with two other managers, for 24 hours by war veterans who forced us to write them a cheque for 6m [Zimbabwe] dollars. There is no rule of law here any more. It's scary and it's dangerous."
Lovemore Moyo (not his real name), who has spent two years working in a Harare factory to save enough money to take up a university place he has been offered, lights up when he hears I live in South Africa. "Please, give me your address. Can you find me a job? Forget about university here," he said. "I'd do anything to live somewhere with a future."
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