The ruling Zanu PF party’s annual people’s conference being held in Chinhoyi yesterday set the tone for continued socio-economic development.
The event brought together thousands of delegates to review party policies and national development goals.
In his keynote address, President Mnangagwa urged thematic committees to remain grounded in practical realities, emphasising that the conference’s success would be measured by concrete economic results rather than high attendance figures.
Therefore, the conference resolutions must be about obtaining the desired results, setting the practical course everyone wants.
The President brought up the liberation struggle. Freedom was won not by talk, but by inspiring and mobilising tens of thousands of young Zimbabweans, training and arming them, and leading them against an entrenched settler colonial system that refused to reform.
Other revolutionary changes have dramatically altered society and the fair distribution of limited resources.
Consequently, we have universal health and education, both being rapidly upgraded, the land reform process, the opening of all doors to citizens, and, especially under the Second Republic, a series of practical development policies that empower everyone to move forward.
The results have been spectacular, and President Mnangagwa outlined some to show that including everyone and ensuring practical measures are in place has seen immense gains.
At the advent of the Second Republic, Gross Domestic Product was US$16 billion. Now it is US$66 billion, more than four times higher.
This growth is far faster than population growth.
In 2017, GDP per capita was US$1 200.
Now it is US$3 500, almost three times higher, and the country is moving fast to achieving upper middle-income status by 2030, having been in the lower middle-income group in 2017.
This growth has hinged on implementing a wide range of definite investment, business, and diplomatic programmes as citizens earn their way out of poverty.
One measure is the 10-fold jump in annual exports from US$2 billion in 2017 to more than US$20 billion this year, which is a clear measure of success.
Other fiscal and monetary policies have seen annual inflation drop to 2.8 percent and, along with a stable exchange rate, citizens are becoming used to increasing prosperity and being able to retain it.
High inflation tends to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.
Low inflation makes it far easier to ensure all gains are spread widely to include everyone, returning to those core party policies.
As the President stressed, this has widened and solidified support for the party. It wins elections because it gets things right for all citizens.
A mass party has to be in contact with the whole people, and it remains a mass party when the entire population wins as a result of clear, definite, and practical policies.
Thus, the political directions set by the party are producing the desired society.
This is a continuous process, not a one-off success, and in some ways is harder to achieve than the original liberation since it must continue year after year.
Therefore, the conference has to keep the momentum of getting things right, working out practical improvements that build on past achievements.
With that thrust from the top, there is confidence the conference will achieve set objectives.
