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The crunch meeting between the President Cde Robert Mugabe and about 10,000 war veterans in Harare on Thursday was very successful, much to the chagrin of the country’s detractors. The meeting of the veterans of the liberation struggle which was held at the City Sports Centre is the first such meeting since independence and President Mugabe said similar meetings will be held every year.
The prophets of doom had predicted a confrontation between the war veterans and Cde Mugabe who is their patron. The meeting however went on smoothly and the war veterans proved beyond doubt that they are very organised and committed to contributing to the development of the country. Contrary to predictions by some media, no daggers were out on Thursday.
It is our fervent hope that various presentations by the different thematic groups were captured by the relevant ministries. The war veterans are in fact a fountain of knowledge and are very clear on what they want achieved now and in the future. President Mugabe agreed with the war veterans that Zimbabweans should play a leading role in the exploitation of their natural resources.
Cde Mugabe said he envisaged a situation whereby Zimbabweans formed mining companies which can employ even skilled whites as opposed to Zimbabweans being employed by foreign-owned companies exploiting the country’s natural resources. The President said the country has graduates who have the requisite skills to start their own companies and what is needed is to change the mindset.
The country, Cde Mugabe said, is endowed with natural resources which include minerals, game and the land. He said in order to succeed Zimbabweans must have a shared vision regarding what they want to achieve. He said this called for discipline which he said should start from the family level.
Cde Mugabe who bemoaned lack of discipline within the war veterans’ association and the ruling party Zanu- PF, said members of the ruling party used to be very disciplined and respected their elders which was not the case now. He said it was important even within communities for individuals to respect their elders.
We cannot agree more with the President on the issue of discipline. People can only respect the command chain if there is discipline within an organisation. Zimbabweans can only have a shared vision regarding issues of development if they respect their leadership at the various levels, be it in government or the ruling party. It is our hope that after the Thursday indaba, the focus now is on how to move Zimbabwe forward.
What was made very clear by the war veterans is that you cannot separate them from the ruling party Zanu-PF hence the problems affecting the ruling party and government are also their problems. It is because of this realisation that the war veterans proffered solutions to some of the economic challenges facing the country through their presentations at the Thursday meeting.
The government has since last year been working on a programme to attract foreign direct investment as part of a cocktail of measures meant to turn around the economy. It is therefore incumbent upon each and every Zimbabwean, war veterans included, to play his or her role in ensuring the environment is conducive for both foreign and local investors.
We want to once again implore Zimbabweans to focus on making Zimbabwe a better place to live as opposed to fighting factional wars which are destructive.
Online Reporter