Mother of all resolutions

Stephen Mpofu
The period between December 25 and January 1 is always replete with a flurry of mental activities, some holy, some not so holy and still some so-so. As they celebrate Christmas some people consolidate successes of a year coming to an end; some build realistic mental structures for their lives in the following year and some build impressive castles in the air: all these in New Year resolutions.

But peace does not fall from heaven overnight, like manna for people only to wake up and gather in their hearts next morning. Only the people of Israel enjoyed God’s manna favour after their deliverance from captivity in Egypt, so the Bible tells us.

In today’s humanity, peace is not only the substance fervently hoped for; it is the evidence of order and contentment, the two values conducing the right environment for sustainable social and economic development in any nation.

Peace, therefore, is the ultimate goal of the objectives posted on Zanu-PF’s July election manifesto and, latterly, in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset), a blueprint for the emancipation of this nation.

While some of the ideas in the manifesto may be stand alones, while others dovetail into Zim-Asset, they all share a common purpose — which is to make Zimbabwe a model of revolutionary rule both regionally and continentally with the indigenous people taking total control of their economy and using their rich mineral resources to develop it, complemented by whatever foreign financial aid and expertise is given to augment our natural and highly educated human resources.

But again peace, peace, peace remains the sine qua non for the much needed investment, both foreign and local as chaos and disorder and disunity can result in the flight of even that external investment already on the ground in our country.

The Government and industrialists are a one in their desire for incentives to lure investment into the country with Bulawayo, formally Zimbabwe’s industrial hub and now a mere proverb of its former self, standing as a special candidate for huge infusions of capital to give Zimbabwe’s second largest city a new lease of life so that those industries that have relocated elsewhere can crack a smile coming back home to thrive again.

New lines of credit, adequate water and power supplies as well as utilities have been sighted as prerequisites for the revival of Bulawayo as a key industrial zone.

Yet in the run up to the July 31 elections, politicians speaking at cross purposes turned the city into a battle ground with, for instance, irresponsible rhetoric from MDC-T calling for factories to remain shut until that party came to power.

But that was not to be. The restoration of Bulawayo’s — and the country’s — glory as an industrial colossus requires first and foremost a unity of purpose across the political divide so that prospective investors are lured to the city, as to any other economic zone in the country, in the knowledge that they are welcomed by all Zimbabweans.

In fact any political party, or its members, that oppose Zim-Asset as a product of the ZANU-PF government, either in cahoots with those who imposed sanctions on this country or while being driven by political jealousy, should be declared enemy number one of the people of Zimbabwe.

That should be so because any national programme by a party in power is meant not only to benefit that party’s members but the nation in its entirety.

Thus, when order reins as a prerequisite for unimpeded social and economic development, the result for all will be contentment with durable peace a trump card for continued investment between private-private and private-public companies or institutions.

The interdependence of nations not only guarantees social and economic advancement; it also serves as proof enough of a world reduced to a global village not only by means of advanced communication technologies but also by a realisation that humanity stands as one in the eyes of its creator, God.