Politics for economic empowerment
SINCE coming to power in 2017, President Mnangagwa has prioritised the economy over politics, achieving in a short space of time development that resonates with the people all through pragmatic measures that have won plaudits even from cynics.
From the agriculture sector, where wheat sufficiency has been achieved for the fi rst time in the country’s modern history, both before and after independence, to the swift recovery in the mining sector which is set to become a US$12 billion industry by 2023, the President has been a champion of economic development and emancipation, specifically through his philosophy; “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo”.
For instance, the mining sector under President Mnangagwa has grown from US$2,7 billion in 2017, to US$3,5 billion in 2020, phenomenally shooting to around US$ 5,2 billion in 2021.
The mining sector has potential for further growth as his Government has created a conducive environment for investors, and continues to implement attractive policies that have received global recognition through the country’s election to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and the African Diamond Producers Association, in both organisations as vice chair this year and next year as Chair.
Under President Mnangagwa, diamond mining has resumed, while the platinum, lithium and chrome sectors are expanding and focusing on local value addition and beneficiation.
Indeed, fi gures do not lie, the country’s economy continues to grow in spite of the illegal economic sanctions, climate change and a global recession triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Eastern European conflict.
For the first time in decades, Zimbabwe, under the Second Republic, has realised Budget surpluses, inflation, which had become a major source of macroeconomic instability, has been contained and the foreign currency auction system has also enhanced transparency and accountability in the distribution and use of foreign currency.
This is all premised on President Mnangagwa’s promise to Zimbabwe of putting the economy first, as the country makes its way towards upper-middle-class income status by 2030, and which is underpinned by economic policies such as the National Development Strategy 1 ( NDS1), which saw the economy growing by 7 percent last year, the highest on the continent.
Setting the economy high on the agenda, the Second Republic in October 2018 launched the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), which ran up to December 2020 to create an enabling environment and ensure macro-economic stability.
The TSP was superseded by the five-year NDS 1 that was launched last year and runs through 2025, driving economic recovery and growth after years of stagnation, so much that even sceptics and detractors concede Zimbabwe is rising.
According to the World Bank, which some economists accuse of being biased against Zimbabwe, the real GDP growth is expected to be at 3.6 percent in 2023 and 2024, and this the body grudgingly admits “is supported by a better agricultural season, slowing inflation, and the relaxation of pandemic requirements” which are all part of a set of policies that have been implemented by President Mnangagwa.
Thus, tirelessly, the country’s First Citizen has pushed for the country’s economic growth, whether through the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business”, as well as an inward approach to nation building as embodied in the philosophy “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo” philosophy.
In both aspects, the economy is central to the President’s thrust which has resulted in investors mobilising billions to invest in the country, including Fortune listed companies.
“During the days of the liberation struggle it was about delivering independence, sovereignty and freedom for the people of our motherland, Zimbabwe. This was accomplished in 1980. Zanu PF delivers. Today, we remain focused on delivering a higher quality of life for our people, no matter where they live.
“Zanu PF has been about the people, it will always be about the people and for the people.
“We are a mass party and our people-centred policies, programmes, values and ethos, will always guide us. We have our land and together we are making it productive. We have the minerals beneath our land, we are ensuring that these benefit the people of our great country.
“We have a mission to accomplish; there are lives to improve; communities to develop and a nation to build. This is the focus of Zanu PF now and into the future,” President Mnangagwa said in a recent address to the Zanu PF’s 7th People’s Congress, held in Harare two weeks ago.
Once a mission impossible, what with the albatross rock of the illegal economic sanctions, the mission is now possible as roads are being constructED, dams are being constructED, hospitals are being constructED, power stations are being constructED, under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, so much that Zimbabweans from all sectors have come on board with support groups inspired by the Economic Development taking place around them.
It is for that reason that the country has policies like the Infrastructure Investment Plan, which provides a roadmap towards infrastructure recovery.
On the energy front, Government has undertaken extensive transformation of the sector and the objective is not only to realise energy self-sufficiency, but to also ensure Zimbabwe’s power generation, transmission and distribution capacity is congruent with the growth and expansion of the industrial base, this epitomises the PFEE buzzword which speaks to the people even as the nation barrels towards next year elections.
Yes, even though the ruling party prepares its juggernaut for next year’s polls, the driving force is the economy.
It is through the economy that people access means of production such as land, and exploit it through mining, agriculture and fisheries, for self-actualisation and defeat of the scourge of poverty.
President Mnangagwa has restored to Zimbabweans the Zimbabwean dream, whether as sportsperson or scientists, Zimbabweans are rising to the occasion as just this week the joined league of nations that have launched satellites into space send its first satellite, ZimSat-1, into orbit after developing it through the BIRDS project.
That itself was a culmination of a process that commenced in 2018 when President Mnangagwa launched the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA), which will enhance the country’s capabilities in mineral exploration and monitoring of environmental hazards and droughts.
Additionally, it will aid in mapping human settlements and disease outbreaks, among other capabilities.
The country’s economic transformation is also measurable through rapid construction of roads, dams and other infrastructure in all parts of the country in fulfilment of President Mnangagwa philosophy of development that leaves no one and no place behind.
Keeping up with the development in the country, President Mnangagwa has indefatigably been commissioning new projects almost on a weekly basis, itself another indicator of the country’s economic transformation.
Indeed, while some are concocting lies, choreographing acts of violence, Zimbabwe is unstoppable under President Mnangagwa, who has sent the message louder and clearer to all Zimbabweans, to make money and stop whining and being used by foreign nations as is the wont of poor actors in the CCC.