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Victoria Ruzvidzo-Editor’s Brief
Compliments of the New Year!
We are already 10 days into the year. It is one that carries a lot of dreams and aspirations which we shall surely aim to achieve.
Here at The Herald ,we commit to keeping you up to speed with local, regional and global issues, something we have always endeavoured to do from day one.
This column is going to be weekly, in which we will discuss, analyse, interrogate and share issues economic, social, political and the whole works.
It is a column that I started six years ago when I became Editor of The Sunday Mail.
It has been 10 months from the time I left the paper to join The Herald and I believe the time is ripe for me to resume it. All in a day’s work.
A new year comes with new beginnings, new perspectives, new hopes, new habits, new expectations, new ways of doing things and a lot other as we seek to make it different, if not better than the previous one.
We all always try, obviously with varying degrees of success, to be better people and to live better lives each new year.
The first success we register on this journey is the effort we put in trying.
That determination to change for the better does make a difference; how things turn out at the end of each year is the sum total of our efforts and other external factors.
How we react, embrace or reject these exogenous factors determine the outcome.
When he first set foot in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, Cecil John Rhodes was mesmerised by what he saw and immediately wrote a letter to the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, describing Zimbabwe as the finest country in Africa.
We may not be too familiar with the circumstances then, but certainly we believe he was not under duress, neither was he on any public relations campaign to make such a statement but that he was simply stating a fact. One that we are all aware of.
The people, the environment, the soils, the minerals, the tourist attractions and the potential this country exuded then and now fit the bill of being called the finest country in Africa indeed.
Some call it the Jewel of Africa, and there are reasons for this and many tourists have referred it as Africa’s best kept secret.
All these descriptions point to the fact that Zimbabwe is indeed a great country that we ought to be proud of.
So, as the year begins, it is important that we all take our positions and do our utmost to work towards achieving our national goals and aspirations. There is so much going Zimbabwe’s way and there are also other aspects that we need to work on to achieve that which we set ourselves to.
Zimbabwe’s economy, we all agree, has gone through a lot over the past decades but its resilience has emerged the winner.
We are always speaking in jest that at some point, particularly during the days of the Economic Structural Adjustment programme (ESAP), the country was almost closed as the programme brought a shock to the system that threatened to bring it to its knees.
However, fast forward to today, the economy remains standing. We have witnessed key developments in terms of infrastructure, rural development and sectoral interventions that seek to inject viability.
The economy expects an overall GDP growth of 2 percent for 2024 compared to the 5,3 percent in 2023 due to the El Niño induced drought, low mineral prices and other factors.
However, statistics released in the last quarter of the year showed a 2,4 percent quarter to quarter GDP growth, buoyed by wholesale and retail trade, mining and other economic activities.
The International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank predicted a 3,2 percent 3,6 percent respectively for 2024.
Of course there is still quite some distance to be covered to get to Canaan, but it remains a fact that so much progress has been made on the economic front, particularly under the Second Republic and much is set to yield more results.
A number of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) targets have been met well ahead of schedule, while others are within reach.
Agriculture surpassed its target a few years ago and is set to achieve significant growth despite the El Niño setback last season.
The mining sector is largely on a roll, although subdued prices for platinum and a few other minerals affected some operations last year.
In 2024, the country recorded a 21 percent rise in gold production to 36,48 tonnes from 30,1 percent, and this is telling of the potential in this sub sector.
The construction sector, itself an indicator of a country’s economic health, has grown phenomenally in the last two years, with a number of commercial and residential projects currently underway in Harare and the entire country in general.
The manufacturing sector has not been found wanting as indicated at last year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) recently said it was upbeat about this year.
Firms such as Invictus Energy, Innscor and many others continue to invest into the economy, indicating better results could be achieved this year.
So much is going for Zimbabwe. We have seen performance of the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange growing in leaps and bounds as counters perform well. The momentum needs to be maintained.
This year has the potential to bring great results for this economy but what is required are the right levels of positive energy, total commitment, hard work, smart work and a unity of purpose that does not fall victim to the negative currents of social media and some pub talk.
Daily debates and discussions on those platforms have generally gravitated towards the negative, with many continuing to denigrate the country and spreading falsehoods that are not helpful to anyone.
Of course we will not be blind to challenges but we cannot always sensationalise or exaggerate issues for the sake of getting more likes.
Social media is key in the information pathway, but a lot has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Those Zimbabweans that spend hours and hours day and night attacking the country could this year choose to be more constructive for Zimbabwe’s sake.
Challenges in the economy, be they corruption, pricing, service delivery or any other, need to be attended to in a more progressive manner and not the kind we see on social media.
Indeed, the Government and its partners who include the business sector, labour and the academia need to address challenges in the economy, particularly regarding the foreign exchange parallel market, inefficient service provision by local authorities and any other challenges compromising progress. But as stated earlier, so much ground has been covered and the programmes and projects in place already speak to a much brighter 2025 and beyond.
On its part, the Government has embarked on economic diversification to mitigate the GDP decline and resultant revenue challenges.
This is being done through enhancing agriculture resilience and reducing the economy’s reliance on agriculture and mining towards manufacturing and high value-added products.
A few days ago, the CZI said it was bullish the country could sustain a stable inflation rate and the exchange rate, urging Government to maintain tight liquidity.
The ZiG and US dollar inflation figures have stabilised over the past few months and both Treasury and the Central Bank have said they will maintain a tight grip on liquidity.
These strategies require stakeholder buy-in so that come year-end we will be smiling and celebrating great achievements.
In God I Trust.
X handle: @VictoriaRuzvid2; Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; WhatsApp number: 0772 129 972.
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