Governor understands the plight of those in the Diaspora

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, sees the Homelink money transfer system as helping Zimbabweans in the Diaspora contribute to national development as well as to their families' and their own well-being.

He believes the majority of them are keen to support efforts to turn the economy round. They have gone abroad in huge numbers because of economic hardship at home and because of the opportunity that earning foreign currency abroad gives them to help their families at home and their own economic prospects.

However, most of them miss home and intend to return some day. They are keen, therefore, to see the economy improve.

"Most of our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora regularly send money home to help their families. Indeed it is precisely to do this that many of them have gone abroad, where they can earn pounds,dollars, Rands and other foreign currencies that can be converted into substantial sums in Zimbabwe dollars," he said.

"Many of them do not enjoy living abroad or the jobs they have to do there. They make great sacrifices in order to be able to send money home to assist their families or to buy a house or invest in some other asset.

"Given an opportunity to contribute to improving the country's economy they are happy to do so, remembering that Zimbabwe is still their home and that most of them intend to return to it some day," he said.Dr Gono said a great deal of the money transferred to Zimbabwe in the past by Zimbabweans living abroad could not be accounted for.

This was, he said, because the money never reached Zimbabwe. Significant amounts were paid into the off-shore accounts of unofficial money dealers, who would then make payments to the intended recipients in Zimbabwe.

"In Asia this is known as the Awala system," Dr Gono said. "We understand why people did this. They were working hard to earn money that needed to be converted into Zimbabwe dollars at a higher rate than the official exchange rate that was then being offered, if their sacrifices were to be worthwhile.

"In order to obtain this higher rate, they took the risks involved in utilising the black market. Some lost money to fraudsters in the process. Others found that their money took weeks to reach the intended beneficiary and suspected it was being used by those they had entrusted with it for their own purposes before it finally reached the intended recipient. In some cases not all of the money reached the beneficiaries or beneficiaries were told they had to have some of it in kind by making purchases from certain shops.