adminThere has been so much mistrust between Zanu-PF and the business community in the past, especially in the absence of a platform for the two parties to sit down and understand each other.
The lack of a platform brewed a lot of suspicion between the two, with Zanu-PF unsure of the business community’s commitment towards economic turnaround while the business community was not so sure about Zanu-PF’s policies, especially indigenisation and empowerment.
It is for this reason and the commitment to fulfil election promises that Zanu-PF today convenes a meeting with captains of industry to exchange ideas on moving the economy forward.
It is indeed a good move by Zanu-PF, taking into account the pledges the party made to revive the economy.
Engaging each other fosters a spirit of patriotism and is a sure way of creating an enabling environment in which everyone becomes psyched up to work for the development of the country.
We believe this is a plausible participatory approach that Zanu-PF has taken as it steps up efforts to tackle such issues as competition brought about by imports, power, agriculture and access to lines of credit.
The party cannot go it alone on these challenges but needs the business community to also play a complementary role.
Zanu-PF and the business community should never forget that they are partners in economic turnaround and as such a meeting of today’s magnitude will obviously go some way in removing the suspicions the two have had with each other.
When people do not talk to each other, suspicions mount but when they talk freely there is bound to be very little or no mistrust at all. This is why we commend Zanu-PF for convening today’s meeting with captains of industry and commerce in order to create an enabling environment for business to flourish and for Zanu-PF to fulfil its election promises.
It is a fact that there has been misunderstanding between Zanu-PF and the business community regarding the indigenisation policy.
Now is the opportunity for Zanu-PF to articulate the policy and foster buy in of the vision by the business community, which will result in the business community embracing the policy for the development of the country.
The crux of the matter is that Zanu-PF needs to understand the business community and the business community needs to understand Zanu-PF, which is only possible through engagement. It results in the two parties having confidence in working with each other, with the biggest beneficiary being the people.
There is no doubt whatsoever that by resoundingly winning the July 31 elections, Zanu-PF, and not the inclusive “animal”, now presides over policies they proposed to the electorate. It now needs to start walking the talk and has indeed shown its seriousness in delivering on the promises it made by starting the engagement process with the business community.
The engagement should not only be with the business community but everyone with the interest of the nation at heart. We need to see agriculture starting to fire on all cylinders to feed raw materials to the manufacturing sector. Once this starts happening, then a lot of challenges related to unemployment and the high import bill would, in the snap of a finger, fall away. This is what today’s meeting should deliberate.
We expect practical solutions to be put on the table, solutions that take us back to our position as the bread basket of Southern Africa. Nothing short of that would suffice.
Online Reporter