President too strong a candidate to be defeated
IT is no longer a secret that Zanu PF is going to win the 2023 harmonised elections with landslide margins. Opposition fanatics like Setfree Mafukidze are on record admitting that President Mnangagwa, is too strong a candidate to be defeated by Nelson Chamisa.
This has seen opposition supporters naively thinking that maybe the revolutionary party would field a weak candidate after President Mnangagwa enabling them to take power.
However, looking at Zanu PF leaders, the party is not going to have a weak presidential candidate in the foreseeable future.
But what makes President Mnangagwa too strong a contender, some may ask.
To begin with, the President’s zeal to develop the country has seen him becoming synonymous with economic development and the uplifting of livelihoods of people.
You can hardly speak of any on-going economic project where the Second Republic has not played a role as an enabler or investor.
The country’s roads are being rehabilitated using local funds, the construction of dams with capacity to irrigate large tracks of land are in progress, while in early 2020 the Government established the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) responsible for promoting both domestic and foreign investment.
All this is meant to further Zimbabwe’s economic development.
Secondly, President Mnangagwa’s economic policies are people centred on the people, hence you hear the Government speaking of “leaving no place and no one behind”.
The United Nations (UN) Habitat observed that inasmuch as urbanisation has been widely acknowledged for its transformative powers, in Africa the rapid urbanisation is widening the gap between rural, peri-urban and urban areas.
This is the problem the current Government has sought to correct since 2017, hence the sprouting of developmental projects in every part of the country.
Developmental projects are being spearheaded in the different aspects, including infrastructure development such as construction of roads and empowerment of people, especially those in marginalised areas.
The construction of the iron and steel company in Manhize, the availing of fishing rigs in Binga and the setting up of the mopane processing plant in
Contrary to opposition figures that use every international appearance to denounce Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa campaigns for the country all the time
Beitbridge, just to mention a few, are some of the projects being spearheaded by the Second Republic.
All this came after the realisation that people get left behind when they lack the choices and opportunities to participate in and benefit from development progress.
Closely related to the above, the listening President Mnangagwa’s administration has availed various initiatives aimed at cushioning ordinary citizens from the effects of climate change.
These projects have been inclusive as they are tailor-made for different sectors, including those into livestock production, horticulture and irrigation, among others.
This is meant not only to empower families to be food and nutrition self-sufficient, but also to commercialise agriculture and ensure farmers earn an income from their produce.
These include the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.
Pfumvudza/Intwasa is one of the programmes that was started by Government to climate-proof agriculture and ensure smallholder farmers achieve high yields even under low rainfall conditions.
The conservation programme has been an eye opener to most food producers who are now testifying on the benefits of the technique.
Pfumvudza has offered a solution to most farmers who lost livestock to tickborne diseases as they can always prepare land and have significant yields.
Noteworthy is that the distribution of seed types and varieties for the 2022 Pfumvudza programme will depend on the agro-ecological regions of the beneficiaries.
Farmers will be given suitable crop varieties for their regions to boost yields.
President Mnangagwa is also a unifier as evidenced by his efforts in bringing a lasting solution and closure to the emotive Gukurahundi issue for example.
This is in stark contrast to some opposition political leaders who have sought political mileage by propagating hate narratives riding on the issue.
Contrary to opposition figures that use every international appearance to denounce Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa campaigns for the country all the time.
He is either calling for the unconditional removal of the illegal western sanctions imposed on the country or marketing investment opportunities.
His love for the country can be traced back to the days of the liberation struggle where he stepped forward among many who were prepared to lay down their lives for the independence of this great nation.
The same cannot be said for Chamisa who confessed of being afraid of joining the army.
Last and most importantly is that President Mnangagwa has proved to be a sound manager as shown by his ability to stabilise the economy.
Government has put in place a raft of measures to stabilise the exchange rate and curb inflation, among them introducing gold coins and raising the bank policy rate to 200 percent.
All the above have served to endear President Mnangagwa to the electorate, making him a strong candidate that even western backed Chamisa cannot defeat.