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Howdy folks!
This is an exciting week when the month of Zvita — which literally means Thanksgiving —ushers us into Christmas.
The feeling is in the air already, and passing by Africa Unity Square in Harare at night will attest to that.
It reminds me of Jim Reeves’ 1963 hit, “Silver Bells”.
The track partly goes as follows: “City sidewalks, busy sidewalks; dressed in holiday style. . . children laughing, people passing; meeting smile after smile.”
Beautiful Christmas feeling indeed!
But before Santa takes his annual pilgrimage to bring gifts to your homes this Thursday, we will, of course, celebrate an important day on the Republic’s calendar — Unity Day — which is coming the day after tomorrow.
Folks, unity and peace are twin complements of economic prosperity.
This is why Section 10 of the Constitution requires that “every person, including juristic persons. . .must promote national unity, peace and stability”.
This has also been identified as a key principle of good governance.
This is the season in which Vice President John Landa Nkomo’s famous quote reverberates in our ears: “Peace begins with you, peace begins with me; peace begins with all of us.”
What can we possibly build without peace?
Even those who read the Bible may have come across Luke 11: 17, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”
We are, therefore, guaranteed to successfully fail and fall if we are not united.
You see, even economic growth and development do not come from a good mix of economic variables alone.
You may have the lowest inflation rate, lowest taxation rates, best investment incentives, you name it; but you won’t be having it all without unity and peace.
We can only fully realise our country’s potential when unity and peace are at the best they can be.
In Zimbabwe, we have made fair strides in achieving unity and peace, with the latest Human Development Report confirming what we can achieve if we are to turn all the turbines of unity and peace.
The report says Zimbabwe aced the fastest average growth in human development on the continent.
It also highlighted that the country’s gross national income per capita increased four percentage points faster than the sub-Saharan African average, from US$1 442 to US$1 662, representing a 12 percent surge.
It will, of course, be an injustice not to recognise the imperative role played by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in this whole matrix.
Our forces have not relented in their mission to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests of Zimbabwe, contributing to international peace and stability.
We, too, as citizens, have a constitutional duty laid upon us to “the best (our) ability, to defend Zimbabwe and its sovereignty” in the interest of the country’s aspirations.
Unity is, therefore, our own business to mind.
Let’s run this business, but not run it down, of course!
Foreign investors are scared of operating in a violent and unstable environment, and even foreign lenders do not want to give money in that context, or it comes with a risk premium and, therefore, becomes expensive.
You may have the best tourist attractions in the world, but which tourist would want to see them if you are at war?
When we are divided, even our national vision will be ripped into pieces, with each holding a piece.
No one can read that vision clearly unless we patch those little pieces together by uniting under the shadow of peace. We certainly cannot achieve any goal when divided.
In the Bible, when God saw that the people were building a tower called Babel that would reach high Heavens, He invoked confusion and misunderstanding amongst them to make them cease building the city.
And it did the trick.
In our contemporary setting, we need to vigorously deal with the underlying socio-economic disparities such as youth unemployment, corruption, factionalism and income inequality, among others; as these are chronic threats to our hard-earned unity and peace.
Factionalism will only promote sabotage and selfish competition, much to the disadvantage of the generality of the citizenry that constitutes the electorate.
This column, therefore, bluntly and categorically calls for political sanity in the ruling party and for those fuelling factional nonsense to learn from the precedents of those who have been dealt with after being found guilty of this misconduct.
We need to embrace a holistic approach to development, while celebrating our diversities, and being tolerant of each other.
On equality, I would like to speak about the land issue as it relates to youths.
Young people are bearing the brunt of unemployment, and giving them access to land can be part of a sustainable solution.
Already, 14,5 million hectares of land have, hitherto, been acquired under the Land Reform Programme, with only 900,000 hectares left to be acquired.
All that land still to be acquired must be allocated to trained youths or those willing to be trained as they need to benefit significantly from this God-given resource.
May we utilise this beautiful season to promote and celebrate unity, while jealously protecting the gains so far!
Let us all pull in one direction!
Merry Christmas and later folks!
Online Reporter