London - Zimbabwe's first female Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, won friends and respect from Zimbabweans living in the United Kingdom when she braved tough questions and urged Zimbabweans to make their own risk assessments before packing bags to go back to Zimbabwe.
Khupe was talking to the Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group (ZDFG), a coalition of UK based Zimbabwean organizations in London, Tuesday July 6th as part of her trip to the United Kingdom during which she will meet potential investors, donors and ordinary Zimbabweans. Khupe said: "Some of us in the transitional coalition Government in Zimbabwe are working hard to ensure that conditions could be created that will enable free and fair elections to be held. It is at this election that the people of Zimbabwe would choose a government of their choice."
Khupe said that it was important that Zimbabweans participated in the democratization and rehabilitation of Zimbabwe. "I am not going to say you come home, but encourage you to make your own assessment of when it would be ideal for you to come home," she said to applause from the audience. Khupe also took time to outline the efforts and challenges in the coalition government. "This is a marriage of convenience. You know what happens in such a marriage, I may not like him but we have to find a way
of working together in the best interest of Zimbabwe.
"It is like a tug of war, where some pull that way and others the other way resulting in no movement." On the new constitution, Khupe said: "The new constitution must enshrine devolution of power," adding that it was better for local decisions to be made by the people affected than by central government in addressing historic disparities in regional development. She encouraged the Diaspora to organise themselves and make submissions of their views on what should be in the constitution to COPAC.
When asked about continued human rights abuses and apparent failure by GNU to enforce the rule of law, Khupe said: "You have to understand that where ever you build, someone will try to destroy. Where ever you put light, someone seeks to put darkness. We must not allow these to distract us from the progress we need as Zimbabweans."  DPM Khupe appealed to the Zimbabweans living in the UK to assist Zimbabwe's rehabilitation and recovery by offering skills and mobilising resources. She said a lot of women were dying giving birth due to lack of antenatal care, shortage of midwives, blood for transfusion and medicines.
She pledged to make a follow up on issues raised by the meeting such as facilitating links for Zimbabweans who wanted to invest in Zimbabwe or those with links to foreign investors. One of the attendees Mr F. Ndiweni said "It is rare to get a politician who is frank and not afraid of telling it like it is".

By The Zimbabwean