Online Reporter
COMMUNION with Bishop Lazarus
When Bishop Lazi and his peers were growing up in the village, the allure of the city lay in the bright lights and prospects of securing a job to fund a lifestyle that was different from the workaday village life.
Most of the folk who were lucky to eventually embark on this coveted journey, especially those who had not and could not chew big book, often found out soon enough that finding a job in the city was not a stroll in the park.
The ritual those days was to pace up and down the many industries dotted around the city in the hope of fortuitously locating those that were hiring.
In those days, it was not uncommon to see hordes of hopeful jobseekers staking out near the gates of companies that were known to routinely hire unskilled labourers.
The jobseekers followed a familiar routine.They were particularly very chatty in the morning, probably because of the animated expectation of being on the brink of a life-changing experience, but as the day wore on without anyone being called in, those inordinately patient could be seen sprawling on the ground as hunger, hopelessness and despair set in.
More often than not, however, many got lucky. At the end of the week, invariably on Fridays, they got their wages, after which the responsible ones would buy their groceries and head back to the village to spoil fellow villagers, inspiring other would-be jobseekers in the process.
The circle continued.
At the time, gig workers — those conveniently engaged for short-term work — were indispensable for industry, which often needed to hire to complete orders on time.
You see, during those halcyon days, Zimbabwe boasted a mean industrial machine — supported by a burgeoning local agricultural sector — that supplied the region and beyond.
Most industries, therefore, had day and night shifts, which meant the rush hour was brutal, regardless of the time of the day, as a wave of workers returning from their workstations swapped places with swarms going the other direction. Although we took it for granted at the time, Zimbabwe had the capacity and infrastructure to power this seemingly round-the-clock economy. But it all started to change when some evil men and women in the United Kingdom, America and the European Union decided to punish us for taking back land from scions of white armed bandits that violently stole it in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
It forced the once-roaring industry to fall silent.
Power hungry
After eight years of painstaking work by ED and his lieutenants, our industry is beginning to roar again.
Our agriculture, which has traditionally supplied the feedstock for industry, has already turned the corner.
Evidently, this is what prompted Simon Rudland to shell out US$100 million to establish a huge tobacco processing plant in Aspindale.
You see, the true owners of the land are now producing more tobacco than the white former commercial farmers could have ever imagined, delivering more than 350 million kilogrammes — the highest ever in history — to the auction floors this year. David Whitehead has also since reopened. Both these greenfield and brownfield investments in industry come with the much sought-after jobs.
All this heightened activity — be it the frenzied activity on farms, construction of new cement plants and the billionaires such as Dangote seeking opportunities — indicate that Zimbabwe’s economy is now well and truly taking off.
If Zimbabwe was crawling, it is now trotting and preparing to sprint.
Its economy bears all the hallmarks of the take-off stage of economic growth — rapid industrialisation and sustained economic growth — as espoused by American economist Walt Rostow.
It means our five-year economic blueprint — the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) — worked like a charm.
Its successor policy, which begins in a couple of months, is bound to accelerate local economic growth.
But the envisaged economic activity has to be undergirded by reliable power supplies.
NDS1 delivered Hwange Power Station’s Units 7-8, which now contribute 600 megawatts (MW) to the grid.
They have managed to insulate Zimbabwe from what could have been brutal load-shedding that afflicts some of our regional peers.
But we still need to do more.
Luke 14: 28-30 says: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”
Thankfully, under wise leadership, we have planned for the expected economic growth momentum. We know that we need in excess of US$16,8 billion to ensure that we increase the country’s installed generation capacity from the current 2 962MW to 10 938MW. We also know that we need to expand our share of non-hydro renewable energy in the power mix from 7,8 percent to 31 percent. But US$16,8 billion — US$11,3 billion for power generation and US$791,5 million for clean cooking energy sources — is no small change.
And this is where ED has demonstrated both his genius and boldness.
He has now allowed the private sector to generate and sell power directly to consumers, a major departure from the old regime where ZESA had the sole mandate to do so.
The State alone cannot bear the Herculean task of building the energy infrastructure required for a modern economy.
The baton must now be passed to the private sector. For decades, we insisted on the folly of letting ZESA control a service that was unavailable most of the time.
While electricity from the power utility seemed cheap at face value, consumers continued to fork out relatively more for energy as they were forced to resort to alternative sources.
But more than that, chronic power shortages have acted as a handbrake on industrial output, dimmed the lights of small businesses and hampered agricultural productivity. So, last week’s comprehensive reviews of permits, levies and fees should be viewed as a journey to durably and sustainably solve this challenge.
The imperative behind these reforms cannot be overstated.
There exists an inextricable, non-negotiable nexus between the availability of power and the pace of economic growth.
Electricity is the invisible input in every facet of a modern economy.
It is the force that drives the conveyor belts in our factories, powers the computers in our offices, operates the machinery on our farms and preserves the produce in our cold stores. Without reliable, affordable and abundant energy, productivity plummets, operational costs soar and competitiveness withers. No nation in the 21st century has achieved sustained economic development without first securing its energy supply. It is the catalyst that transforms raw materials into finished goods and ambition into tangible progress.
Overall, the genius of the Government’s latest interventions lies in the realisation that by consciously choosing to lower barriers, the Government is not forgoing revenue but strategically investing in the future tax base that a vibrant, privately driven energy sector will create.
Hopefully, the private sector will ramp up some of the proposed projects that have been on paper and in the pipeline for some time, including the floating solar power station planned for Kariba.
There are also plenty of other proposals by independent power producers for solar and wind. For Zimbabwe to achieve its lofty ambitions, it must first power them.
The decisive action by the Government is a critical step towards dismantling the barriers that have long stifled private investment in the most crucial artery of the nation’s economy.
Vision 2030 envisions a Zimbabwe with industrialised economies, thriving urban centres and transformed rural livelihoods, and this needs power.
Overall, such a vision demands a massive expansion of the country’s energy generation, transmission and distribution capacity. It requires not just maintaining the current grid but doubling or tripling it.
Private capital is not just an option; it is an absolute necessity for realising Vision 2030. So, these licence reforms are, in essence, the first crucial payment on this massive investment.
You see, the power to achieve Vision 2030 lies in first empowering those who can generate the power.
Bishop out!
