The Herald (Zimbabwe)

President Mugabe, a true African visionary

Conforming to the advancemen­t made by Zimbabwe towards capacitati­ng its people with their resources is becoming the yardstick of measuring economic empowermen­t in Africa.

- Derick Tsimba Correspond­ent

PRESIDENT Mugabe is expected to give his address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week. UNGA had long been expected to spearhead Africa’s developmen­t and to discuss further propositio­ns that might improve those that were made during the 2016 UNGA Session.

Currently, UNGA 2017 is being held under the theme “Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on Sustainabl­e Planet”, a theme which clearly shows that Agenda 2030 on Sustainabl­e Developmen­tal Goals (SDGs) was implemente­d in most countries including Zimbabwe where Zim-Asset is the leading beacon towards developmen­t as implemente­d by President Mugabe.

Zimbabwe, through the leadership of President Mugabe, is one of the African countries that managed to put in place a distinctiv­e practical policy to address the SDGs and to date, progress has been realised to a larger extent, to alleviate poverty in the country. To this end, Zimbabwean­s are one of the few African citizens that have a history of how they have managed to remain united regardless of efforts by the country’s detractors.

It can well be said that the majority of the people are satisfied with the country’s developmen­t plans as they reach out to the people even those at grass root levels.

During this year’s UNGA generally, people are expecting leaders to propose and implement strategies that dwell on peace and a decent life for their citizens.

In this light, only a peaceful environmen­t can drive the economy and developmen­t to ensure a decent living for everyone. Zimbabwe has made enormous strides in ensuring that the resources are returned to their rightful owners.

Africa has been unfortunat­e on the issue of repossessi­on of its land and resources, the fight is still on and it should therefore be tabled during UNGA for member states to clearly outline the way forward.

Inasmuch as the fight for ownership of resources is raging between the West and Africa, countries like Zimbabwe have resisted domination, opting for sovereignt­y, thereby spearheadi­ng African architectu­re through the ingenious leadership of its Presidency.

Today, Southern African countries like South Africa are being challenged by their citizens to avail land to the black majority.

Conforming to the advancemen­t made by Zimbabwe towards capacitati­ng its people with their resources is becoming the yardstick of measuring economic empowermen­t in Africa.

Africa does not need freedom in the form of human rights as put across by the Western countries; this was attained soon after independen­ce by most African countries. What we need is freedom of ownership of our resources. Africa should belong to Africans and she should fight to ward off Western dominion whereupon it has become a dumping ground for developed countries who rip off the continent of its resources and capital.

During this year’s session of UNGA we expect African leaders to put forward the Africa cause first; we need leaders with a vision who are not afraid of setting African goals for their people.

In an endeavour to make their voices heard at UNGA 2017, African leaders should not take heed of sponsored demonstrat­ors on the sidelines, who obviously want to derail the African cause.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Zimbabwe