The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development (MOSAD) has registered 15 000 skilled Zimbabweans who have returned home in recent weeks, mainly from South Africa, marking one of the most tangible milestones yet in the rollout of the Zimbabwe Global Skills Partnership Programme (ZGSPP).<\/p>\n
The databank was announced by Permanent Secretary Ambassador Rudo M. Chitiga on the sidelines of an inter-ministerial committee workshop in Masvingo, where officials from five Government ministries gathered to chart the way forward on managing the safe, orderly and dignified return of skilled citizens.<\/p>\n
“We have so far created a databank with 15 000 registered skilled returnees, and some of them have skills that are required in our industries locally, such as artisans, welders, bricklayers and technicians. These will be absorbed because there is space for them locally,” said Ambassador Chitiga.<\/p>\n
The registration drive comes against the backdrop of the repatriation of over 100 000 Zimbabweans from South Africa, following recent unrest linked to xenophobic attacks. Among those returning are workers with skills the Ministry is keen to retain and deploy locally, including expertise in grape harvesting and other agricultural specialisations, as well as construction tradespeople, some of whom helped build stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
“Recent events in South Africa have had an effect on our programme. I was in Beitbridge yesterday, where I met some of our people who were returning home, and all they needed was safe migration,” Ambassador Chitiga said. “We, as the Government, will know exactly where we have placed our people and for how long, fully knowing that they are protected.”<\/p>\n
The ZGSPP, approved by Cabinet last year, is being delivered through a Whole-of-Government approach spanning several ministries, each with a distinct mandate:<\/p>\n
Returnees whose skills cannot be immediately absorbed locally are being considered for structured, safe deployment abroad under the programme, including to South Africa itself, where certain skills gaps persist. “Some of our people were actually asking us at the border where this programme was all along, because it allows safe migration for our people to those countries that have skills gaps,” Ambassador Chitiga said.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe already exports skilled labour within the region and beyond, including teachers deployed to Rwanda and health professionals placed abroad, and the ZGSPP is designed to formalise and expand this model with proper safeguards.<\/p>\n
The databank milestone follows closely on Ambassador Chitiga’s tour of the Repatriates Reception Centre at Beitbridge Border Post, where she was received by officials from the Departments of Social Welfare, Immigration and Health, along with other partners managing the facility.<\/p>\n
She toured the reception, screening and documentation sections through which returnees are processed on arrival, and was briefed on daily intake numbers, operational challenges, and the support services currently in place, including food assistance, health screening and onward transport.<\/p>\n
“Every Zimbabwean returning home brings skills, experience and potential that can help build the nation. Our role as Government is to ensure they are welcomed with respect and given pathways to reintegrate meaningfully,” Ambassador Chitiga told officials at the centre.<\/p>\n
The Ministry confirmed that all returnees are undergoing skills auditing as part of the reintegration process, profiling their qualifications, trades and work experience gained in South Africa and elsewhere, and laying the groundwork for upskilling and placement opportunities under the ZGSPP.<\/p>\n
Government’s reintegration strategy frames returnees not as a burden, but as citizens whose skills, experience and potential can directly advance Vision 2030, Zimbabwe’s blueprint for an empowered, upper-middle-income society by 2030, and the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).<\/p>\n
“We are strengthening systems to ensure no one is left behind during the reintegration process,” Ambassador Chitiga assured returning citizens.<\/p>\n
As the Masvingo workshop continues to define ministerial responsibilities and operational protocols, and as the Beitbridge centre scales up its intake capacity, the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development remains firmly at the centre of translating the return of skilled Zimbabweans into a national dividend, turning a moment of crisis at the border into an opportunity to build Zimbabwe from within.<\/p>\n
For more on the Zimbabwe Global Skills Partnership Programme, visit www.zimskillsglobal.gov.zw<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development (MOSAD) has registered 15 000 skilled Zimbabweans who have returned home in recent weeks, mainly from South Africa, marking one of the most tangible milestones yet in the rollout of the Zimbabwe Global Skills Partnership Programme (ZGSPP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5457,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5455\/revisions\/5457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimskills.gov.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}