Chronicle Editor
LIFE begins at 40, they say.
Before a person turns 40 they are young and preparing to start living life. They are learning to be themselves. They are putting their financial positions in place, they are building a home for themselves. If they are in formal employment, they are beginning to reach senior positions or hoping to be their own bosses soon.
On turning 40, they are mature, of sound judgment, have solid financial positions and relations within and outside. They are now themselves.
For Zimbabwe as a nation, life began last year and yesterday, the country marked its first year of real life. Now the country has matured, is of sound judgment all round and is looking ahead with confidence for a prosperous social, economic and political future.
Speaking a few days ago on the country’s 41st Independence Day celebration, President Mnangagwa put the future of the country into perspective. The past has been difficult, he said in an interview broadcast by the national broadcaster on Saturday, but since he came into office three years before life began for the country, the situation is changing for the better. That was after his administration adopted a range of painful policy decisions to correct anomalies in the management of the economy.
Results are beginning to show and the 41-year-old is heading into a brand new future. The country now has a currency that is stable and widely acceptable, inflation is falling sharply, industrial production is rising and for the first time in many years, the economy will grow, at an impressive 7,4 percent this year. Exports are growing in value and volume. Electricity supply is more assured now as generating capacity is being boosted. The Government is using internally-generated resources to build roads, power generating plants, dams, schools, clinics etcetera.
That is why we have said in these columns before that this year’s Independence Day “Zim@41-Together, Growing our Economy for a Prosperous, Resilient and Inclusive Society” could not have been more appropriate.
“When the Second Republic came, there were so many challenges,” said the President in the interview. “It was necessary that if we had to bring about prosperity certain things had to be done, painful or not painful, and it was necessary for us to introduce measures that were very painful that made us unpopular but we knew that the fruits of that process would bring about prosperity and recovery of our economy.
Yes, for instance when we came into office we had been going through very drastic challenges in energy where we would go without electricity. Load shedding was the order of the day.
“The question of fuel, we had queues here, left and right, long queues at the early part of the Second Administration, but we had to impose and create conditions that were very difficult in order to reach where we are today — by introducing policies which bring about resolution to those challenges. Our shelves at one time they were empty, empty shelves, so we had to find out what to do in order that our people have food, have basic needs of life and to do that again it was painful. We had no currency, our currency had collapsed years back, and there is no country that can develop and grow its economy on the basis of another country’s currency.”
Indeed, as the President said, the situation in the country has been difficult but the 41-year-old has turned the corner.
The Government is urged to continue on the direction it has set the country on. It is the right one. Zimbabweans are urged to continue working hard for themselves and their country. They must support Government programmes. They must be united and not allow themselves to be abused by foreign powers that always serve their own selfish interests.
As we are still in the Independence month, we must not forget that the freedom we are enjoying today came about because of the hard work and supreme sacrifices that were made by thousands upon thousands of Zimbabweans. Some of them are no longer with us, but others are still alive. They deserve to be honoured for their patriotism, selflessness and dedication to national duty. We must not just honour them, but go a step further by emulating them.
Those are the values that attained us freedom. Those are the same values that will take us into a prosperous future.
Online Reporter