Impact on essential services Essential services in Zimbabwe have been severely hit by this external and internal exodus of skills. Teachers and nurses in rural areas were among the most targeted groups ahead of elections 2000 and 2002; they were accused of being pro-MDC and hundreds of rural schools were forced to close by war veterans. Teachers were beaten and threatened by state agents, and many fled into exile at this time. Political attacks against health personnel were also documented during 2002, mainly against rural nurses, but also against doctors.50 More than 80% of doctors, nurses and therapists who have trained since 1980 have left. The country has fewer than half the doctors needed to staff its hospitals; the University of Zimbabwe has so few qualified lecturers that is has reduced its yearly intake of medical students from 120 to 70. President Mugabe has accused Britain and other western nations of “stealing” Zimbabwean skills, but those who leave cite political persecution, poor salaries and appalling conditions in hospitals, which are without resources including essential drugs. 51 During the compilation of this report, the authors spoke to dozens of highly qualified Zimbabweans who have left their nation as the result of political persecution. They have left well-paid professional jobs, and find themselves “living like rats” in Johannesburg, without asylum status and without formal employment.52 “Harvesting” the exiles: Homelink The Zimbabwe government itself has poured enormous publicity into launching an international programme called “Homelink” that aims to persuade Zimbabweans abroad to send home their foreign earnings through official banking channels, as opposed to selling them on the black market; by so doing it has acknowledged that Zimbabwe’s greatest expanding export at this time is its skilled personnel. With the agricultural and tourist sectors reduced to a fraction of their previous foreign exchange potential, it is from the hard lives of Zimbabweans in exile that the government now actively seeks to get a return.53 In September 2004, it was possible to sell US$ 1 for around Z$ 5,600 in a Zimbabwean bank, but on the “black” market, the US$ was selling for Z$ 7,700. This means it is more attractive for foreign earnings coming back to Zimbabwe to change hands illegally. The Homelink policy has clearly not done as well as government projected: Zimbabweans abroad are estimated to send home in excess of US$ 300 million per month. Yet the Reserve Bank announced in September that their total returns via Homelink between 1 January and 1 September 2004 were US$ 36 million, or US$ 4,5 million a month. 54 This is 1,5% of the estimated monthly foreign returns from exiles, indicating a reluctance by Zimbabweans in the diaspora to use this system. 50 ZHRNGOForum, Teaching them a lesson, 2002, documents attacks on schools and teachers around the Presidential election; Solidarity Peace Trust, September 2003, has sections relating youth militia attacks on health professionals, people in clinic queues, teachers, school buildings (pp46-49). 51 The Observer (UK), “Mugabe says we are being stolen – all we want is better pay”, 10 August 2003. 52 Personal interviews; Johannesburg, October 2003, and Durban, March 2004. 53 The government has sponsored a massive national and international advertising campaign that continues daily. 54 The Zimbabwe Independent, 24 September, op cit, for figures. 31