‘Zim enters new era of prosperity’

ZIMBABWE is in a new era that is focused on bringing prosperity and development with increased investor confidence, as reflected by the high number of investors exploring business opportunities, President Mnangagwa has said.

He was addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters at an open space near Mafungautsi Primary School in Gokwe yesterday.

The President said the economy was on a rebound as seen by the opening up of new companies, while others were being resuscitated.

“We are in a new Zimbabwe, a new era, a new revolution,” he said. “A new revolution bringing about prosperity and development to the people of Zimbabwe.”

President Mnangagwa said following the coming in of the new dispensation in November last year, Government had met with various stakeholders who had appreciated the new vision aimed at uplifting the livelihoods of the generality of the people.

“When we came into power on November 24 last year, we met with chiefs who are the custodians of this country and we told them about the new dispensation and they agreed to work with us,” he said.

“We also met with church leaders and we introduced ourselves and they also agreed to work with us. After that, we met with business people since we have said Zimbabwe is open for business and they also agreed to work with us, and as Government we have committed ourselves to creating a conducive environment for both domestic and foreign investors in all sectors of the economy, be it manufacturing, infrastructure development, mining and so on.”

President Mnangagwa said there was renewed interest in the country from foreign investors.

“We are receiving numerous investors on a daily basis because we have said Zimbabwe is open for business,” he said.

“We are even running out of hotel space to accommodate them.”

President Mnangagwa said the improvement in the economy could be seen through the number of ground breaking ceremonies he had officiated.

“We have ground breaking ceremonies regularly because of the interest by investors in our country,” he said. “Just last week, I was officiating at a ground breaking ceremony in Hwange.”

President Mnangagwa said Government was working on the revival of Ziscosteel and urged Midlands province to fully exploit the abundant mineral resources in the province.

“Midlands is well endowed with minerals such as gold, chrome, platinum and coal, and these should be exploited for the people’s development,” he said.

“As Government, we have set up a facility to assist small-scale miners so that they can mechanise their operations.”

President Mnangagwa said Gokwe was an important cotton growing region that contributed 50 percent of the country’s cotton production.

“I have been informed that Gokwe contributes 50 percent of the country’s total cotton production and as Government we will continue to support farmers with inputs at the same time reviewing the producer price for the benefit of farmers,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said Government was looking at setting up industries in the region to enhance value addition of cotton.

He said Government had set up two financial institutions targeted at empowering youths and women.

“We created the Empower Bank to provide loans to our youths so that they can start their incomegenerating projects,” said President Mnangagwa. “We have also set up another bank for women so that they can also finance their projects and this can only be done by a party that has the interests of the people at heart.”

President Mnangagwa reiterated his zero tolerance to corruption and urged people to report to the police whenever they see any cases of graft.

“We have said down with corruption,” he said. “We do not condone corruption and any cases should be reported to the police.”

President Mnangagwa donated 50 computers to Mafungautsi Primary School during the rally.