In the 1980s, Zimbabwe's private and public sectors bustled like beehives with professionals immersed in their work. Today, however, the busy ones have thinned drastically in their ranks.
An African proverb says, "Knowledge is like a garden. If it is not tendered with expertise, weeds will compete with the growing plants."
When Zimbabwe got independence, the government put in place sound educational policies. Ten years down the road, sloppiness within government ranks reared its ugly head and the "garden" of manpower development had weeds.
Zimbabwe's economic and political problems have had a corrosive effect on the educational system. Inflation had denuded salaries and teachers have either quit the profession, joined the private sector or gone overseas in search of better remunerations.
Another area that has been hit hard is the health sector. Two years ago, more than 2,000 nurses went on strike in a vain attempt to have their conditions of service improved.
The government delivered on its threat and about 1,200 nurses lost their jobs. This was a blessing in disguise for them and most of them got absorbed in private health care because of the AIDS scourge.
Zimbabwe's ministry of health reports that there are 1,200 vacancies in all state health institutions nationwide.
The exodus of nurses into the private sector has cemented the government resolve to come up with a mechanism of bonding trainee nurses for three years after graduation.
"Bonding will not stop the brain drain because it's about bread and butter issues and not patriotism," said Clara Nondo, president of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association.
Because of widespread disenchantment in the public service, doctors have joined the queue of migrating labor to neighboring countries like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The medical school records at the University of Zimbabwe reveal that it takes $2 million Zimbabwean dollars to train one doctor. The medical school has lamented the exodus of doctors to neighboring countries as a "brain hemorrhage."
Brain drain is muscling in on all private and public institutions. The rankings of staffing are growing thinner as individuals with coveted skills are running helter-skelter around the world for better working conditions.
Of late the farmers, due to political instability on their farms, have been enticed to Angola, Zambia and Mozambique. Tension stems from a directionless government's garden-variety policies.
Robert Mugabe, like an amoeba, a one-celled creature separated from its group, struggles to bring the labor force together.
The question one will ask is: Whom do you blame for brain drain? Is it the professionals or the government? The government is to blame for squandering all the opportunities it had to make Zimbabwe a better place to live.
Commonly it is said, "There is no place like home." But when home is inhabitable, wherever you are is home. This is the truth that every thinking Zimbabwean should embrace.
Time has a way of clearing vision. As a professional, when the environmental conditions are not conducive for your professional growth, take a hard look at the reality and move on.
You cannot escape the tyranny of reason. The world is becoming a global village. Let's not see the world through tightly focused lenses.
Write to Tafadzwa at wmudambanuki@bsu.edu
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