Dear South African Citizen,

First of all I would like to thank you all for allowing us to visit and live in 'your country', though I am not a fan of the imaginary boundaries created by the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 over the last couple of years.

I am a Rhodesian born Zimbabwean, however my ancestors are descendants from the South linked to the BaSuthu and Ndebele klans. I still have traceable relatives who remained in South Africa and also acquired a new link through marriage that qualified me to be a South African citizen regardless of my place of birth. I share this information so that you realise how close we are as people only being distiguished by labels and imaginary boundaries.

I am very worried and disgusted by the emergence of inhuman activities associated with xenophobia being pepatrated by some sections of the South African Society alleged to be endorced by law enforcement officials that I have recently read in various media sources.

I do do appreciate the pressure that migration not only from Zimbabwe but the rest of Africa is placing on peace loving and culturally rich diverse population of South Africa, some who are also struggling to earn a basic living in order to live descent lives. I have no words to fully describe how grateful and appreciative Zimbabweans who are living and working in South Africa are as the socio-economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe have been unstable and unpredicatable for quite sometime now.

I am sure most South African's are well informed about the state of the economy in neighbouring countries, like you have neighbours that you live next to Zimbabwe and South Africa have been peaceful neighbours for a very long time because of the cultural and economic ties between the two countries and now is not the time to start burning those bridges of understanding, if anything we should strengthen our bonds towards finding solutions to problems faced by our communities. We have much more in common than the imaginary differences that some want to try and use to divide us.

I ask those committing these inhuman acts against other humans to think before they act and stop this senseless violation of human rights. We are all living on borrowed time and hence it's important that we have respect for each other, for ideas on how best we can overcome the problems we face won't come from confrontational acts but open dialogue and shared perspectives that will inspire us to be better persons than we were yesterday.

"umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu"..I am because we are and our differences should be learning opportunities to help us understand each other better.

Your loving distant relative

Muntu..

Possible factors of our flawed Economic Development approach.

I am of the 'opinion' colonialism brought with it functional class structures from the British Empire, though generally most of Africa had Monarchial structures. The difference with Africa's monarchs is that they had a strong social component to them guided by what we know as 'Ubuntu' or 'Hunhu' in Zezuru language of Zimbabwe. In 'ubuntu' which translates to a way of life, individuals and communities work together based on the understanding that we all need each other to survive in this world and build stronger united nations.

In 1980 Zimbabwe inherited capitalist structures that favoured a minority wealthy upper class (elitism). What happened after independence was a simple but gradual exchange of roles from a wealthy white upper class to a new super rich black elite class created by influential powerful politicians conspiring with some of powerful white owners that owned most of the countries means of production (notable 'Lonrho conglomerate') to consolidate economic power and control in the country.

These secret partnerships (neo-colonial arrangements) went on undetected and unknown by most members of society as they were still mesmerised and blinded by the prospect of majority rule. Their existence is probably what eventually fuelled the spread of corrupt practice in public institutions and government.

In reality what most expected would become a new independent Zimbabwe with fair opportunities for all was never to be as the inherited structures remained in place and were gradually used in a similar manner to create the current socio-econmic and political environment similar to the colonial era where racial differences determined ones climb up the social ladder, however in a ZANU PF government one's liberation credentials and ones loyalty to ZANU PF as a party became the new wealthy minority feeding ZANU's stay in power by any means necessary.

It is a well known fact across the world that most of those who do venture into financially beneficial activities in any economic environment tend to come from more affluent families or political elites in those countries. As I see it in Zimbabwe because we inherited a minority wealthy structured economy the majority tend to have little or no knowledge of thinking beyond earning a living, that's probably one of the main reasons we have had the mass migration of professionals to more developed countries who offer better salaried jobs.[economic migrants]

I would like to think that part of the causes to our situation is the mind-set that we are educated and taught to aspire for a professional qualification in order to be able to apply for a good paying job rather than use education as a medium to unleash our full potential by thinking innovatively and seeking ways of making a living.Perhaps what makes the existing system less relevant to changing times is the inability to channel resources to encourage economic development and research in that direction.

What Zimbabwe needs is an education system that is integrated with industry and finance so as to enable students not only learn and acquire new knowledge but are equally given opportunities through-out their studies to gain practical experience in their areas of interest and passion.

It's important that Government in partnership with private sector create a Fund that supports new Entrepreneurs in order to promote economic development initiatives that also have the support of volunteer mentors from the Corporate sector to help guide aspiring entrepreneurs during their starting phase. Tax credit incentives could be offered to volunteer business experts to encourage participation.

I believe the role of nation building should not be left to the sole discretion of government only, our private sector also needs to do more to support economic development initiatives at various levels of the social strata. I do appreciate that we can not all be equal nor fully reverse the imbalances of the past to agreeable levels, however we can work torwards creating a much fairer society where every citizens has an opportunity to unleash their full potential in life. We are all born in different times with different circumstances but those differences should not be used to divide us from pursuing our purpose in life.

Growth comes from learning, and there is just so much we can learn from each other and our enviroments, so in what ever we do and what ever we aspire to achieve let's always try and do more listening and analysis for that will help us understand and appreciate the challenges we face in this life.

I am because we are. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. Tisu vanhu vacho!