Tinotenda Hove – The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development signed yet another Memorandum of Understanding with the Zimbabwe Diaspora Nation Building Initiative on Monday in Harare. The ceremony happened just weeks before the Diaspora Skills Conference in August. On paper it’s about “knowledge exchange” and “human capital”. On the ground, it looks like more talk with nothing to show for it.

The deal supposedly links Zimbabweans abroad to local colleges, factories and training programs. Government says it will build a database of skilled diaspora professionals and then fix skills gaps. Critics say Zimbabwe already has databases, taskforces and committees that go nowhere while graduates sell airtime and young artisans leave the country.

Permanent Secretary Ambassador Rudo Chitiga defended the move at the signing. She said the agreement is meant to “organise our work with the diaspora and create skills-based or sector-based databases of skilled professionals across the world”. She added that “through this platform, we can work together to develop skills locally, upskill our people and design training programmes that address specific skills gaps”.

But with workshops closing, equipment obsolete, and lecturers unpaid, many question how another database will change anything.

ZDNI Chief Executive Paul Matsvai pitched his organisation as the connector. He said “Our role is to bring synergies. We are at our best when we are connected and when we play to the strengths of our members”. He claimed they will “identify Zimbabweans leading in various fields of knowledge and find ways of engaging them so that their expertise can help address critical skills shortages in the country”.

That sounds good until you remember past diaspora drives that produced speeches, photos, and zero workshops, zero tools, zero jobs.

Government keeps calling the diaspora a “key resource” and ties this MoU to National Development Strategy 2, which lists workforce skills as a driver of growth. Yet NDS2 targets have been missed year after year. Signing MoUs is easy. Equipping labs, paying trainers, and absorbing graduates is hard.

Until money, equipment and real apprenticeships follow the paperwork, this deal risks becoming just another press release. Another signature, another conference, while skills keep leaking out of the country.