Seventeen years after independence, white Rhodesians are going back to Zim in their droves, reports Iden Wetherell
THE Rhodesians are coming! Thousands of citizens of rebel prime minister Ian Smith’s former white bastion who fled majority rule in 1980 to seek refuge in apartheid South Africa are now flocking back across the border. And they appear to be escaping the same realities that precipitated their hasty exit from Zimbabwe.
Democratic South Africa’s embrace of affirmative action is seen as a key factor in propelling many ex-“Rhodies” back across the Limpopo. But in addition to no longer feeling wanted in their former sanctuary, there is the lure of easy money back home.
Zimbabwe, which in recent years has opened up its economy, now provides lucrative prospects in business, especially for those with capital outside the country. And while black empowerment rhetoric is strong, the private sector remains largely in white hands operating in places on an extensive old-boy network.
Although many returning ex-Rhodesians bring business skills and investment plans, they are by no means universally welcome.
“While the Nazi war criminals who went to South America never dreamt of coming back as they would have been tried for crimes against humanity,” complained the Sunday Mail, a ruling Zanu-PF party mouthpiece, “the Rhodesians who aided and abetted acts of atrocities against the black population are on the contrary singing `Home Sweet Home’ “.
The immigration department has said it is processing an average 100 applications a month from South Africa. In December the number shot up to 393. This includes an unspecified number of South Africans who see their future in Zimbabwe where whites number 80 000 in a total population of 11- million.
“The economic situation in Zimbabwe still favours the white community and that is why South Africans find it easier to come and live here because they can still be in control,” a senior government official told the local press.
No figures are given for the number of applications that are rejected but it is believed applicants who served in certain units of Smith’s security forces are unlikely to get back in.
In 1994 the supreme court upheld the government’s refusal to grant automatic return to people who were born in Zimbabwe but had renounced their citizenship.
However, for those who make it life is good. “It’s definitely slower here but much more relaxed,” said “Max” who asked to remain anonymous. “There are no carjackings, the weather is better and people are much friendlier.”
Max, who left Zimbabwe in 1980 and worked for 15 years in Johannesburg, now runs his own advertising company. He said many of his friends had also returned, some of them feeling they had reached a glass ceiling in their workplaces.
The return of the emigr Rhodesians coincides with a growing self-confidence – some would say arrogance – on the part of many white Zimbabweans who no longer feel overawed by a government whose record on economic management is attracting growing criticism.