Online Reporter
Samuel Kadungure
News Editor
ZANU PF National Chairman, Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, has hailed President Mnangagwa for coming up with deliberate policies to protect local entrepreneurs from unfair competition by foreigners.
Speaking in Chipinge last Saturday during celebrations to mark Dr Paul Tungwarara’s elevation to the ZANU PF Central Committee, Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri cited Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025 (Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Regulations) that provides protection for locals to participate in 17 reserved sectors of economic development.
“You should be part of these development initiatives in agriculture, ecotourism and ethanol production at GreenFuel. We are seeing finished tea and coffee products being exported outside the country. We are witnessing ethanol being produced at GreenFuel and blended with petrol as import substitution to save foreign currency we generate through exports. Please utilise these opportunities and make money through hard, honest work as always said by President Mnangagwa.
“In small-scale mining, no foreigners are allowed – that is a preserve for locals. We do not want foreigners to come here and take over the good work that is being done by our small-to-medium enterprises. We have seen incidents where foreigners had built tuck shops in major cities. They cannot come here to do retail business – that is not allowed – that is for local people. The President wants to protect the SMEs.
“You are aware that 60 percent of our gold comes from artisanal miners – they are no longer makorokoza – but SMEs, and the President is supporting and protecting them so that foreigners do not just come in and grab all the business opportunities,” said Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri.
She also hailed Cde Tungwarara for possessing mouth-watering credentials, including his key role in attracting Africa’s wealthiest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, to meet President Mnangagwa in 2025, and promised to invest US$1 billion in cement manufacturing, coal mining and power generation.
“Unlike some unpatriotic malcontents, selfish prodigal sons and daughters of our motherland, Cde Tungwarara is an exceptional new breed of party cadres who plough back to their grassroots, district, province and country. His indisputable philanthropic and empowerment work epitomises the President’s tenable development philosophy that: ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’. His company is behind the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme which aims to drill 35 000 boreholes across Zimbabwe, and the Presidential Solar Scheme targeting every rural home, among other development partnerships. He is a champion of numerous Presidential Empowerment Schemes, under the directive of His Excellency, which include the Presidential War Veterans Empowerment and Housing Scheme; Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme; Presidential Women’s League Empowerment Scheme; Empowerment of Affiliates with revolving interest-free loans; purchase of Special Utility Vehicles (double-cab) for all the eight district coordination committees (DCCs) in Manicaland; and provision of US$25 000 to each party legislator in Manicaland for constituency development projects,” she said.
Cde Muchingiri-Kashiri said Cde Tungwarara’s impressive track record in strategic development makes him an ideal candidate to join other leaders in driving the party and Government’s socio-economic and infrastructural development agenda in line with the National Development Strategy (NDS2) and the attainment of Vision 2030.
“The NDS2 underpins ZANU PF’s ideology rooted in socialist principles advocating social and economic equality. Cde Tungwarara and others are championing the 10 NDS2 pillars with the aim of driving economic growth and development, aligning with Vision 2030 goals – macro-economic stability and financial sector deepening by sustaining a stable and predictable macro-economic environment which promote investment and innovation, inclusive economic growth and structural transformation aimed at modernising the economy from primary commodity-based to a diversified and broad-based one. He is also spearheading infrastructure development, housing and food security, which speaks of the need to achieve food and nutrition security by every household, as well as science, technology, innovation and human capital development. We must embrace Artificial Intelligence in order to deal with the fast-paced and multi-pronged global developments; devolution and decentralisation for equitable and inclusive national development; job creation, youth development and entrepreneurship in order to have food on the table of every household, and social development, which deals with universal access to quality health, and education, among others,” said Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri.
She added that the Politburo has approved the establishment of tele-health kiosks at provincial offices to ensure that members are screened and treated against diabetes, cancer and blood pressure.
“The days of sloganeering are over. People want food on the table. As a Central Committee member, Dr Tungwarara, must conscientise colleagues to oversee the implementation of Government’s economic blueprints so that the country is food secure. As provided for under Article 7, Section 39, Sub-section (2) and (3) of the Party Constitution, Central Committee members are empowered to ‘give directives, supervise, and superintend over’ all the functions of the central Government and ensure implementation of all ‘policies, resolutions, directives, decisions, programmes and projects’. We implore Cde Tungwarara to continue to foster sustainable empowerment programmes. As we celebrate his co-option today, let us always remember that our forebears paid the supreme sacrifice for the peace, unity and development we are enjoying today. The sustained collective agony experienced under the brutal racist colonial regime shall forever be etched in our collective memory. We fought with bombs and guns. It is now your turn to defend the gains of our hard-won independence, carry on the legacy and ensure that the revolutionary party remains in power through implementation of pro-people policies and projects,” she said.
Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri, who also heads the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drugs and Substance Abuse, warned that drug and substance abuse is the new enemy of the state, fuelling a crime wave and sabotaging economic growth.
She declared war on the drug scourge, revealing that the country is under siege by the deadly epidemic that’s destroying lives, decimating families, and crippling the economy.
“The other war that we must all fight against is the drug and substance abuse epidemic. We agreed during the conference that the party must lead in the campaign against drug and substance abuse after realising that – drug and substance abuse (DSA) is a new threat to the social, economic, and security well-being of our country. Drugs are destroying families, retarding the economic growth trajectory and fuelling criminal activities; and we should have an Information and Communication and Education (I.E.C) material in all our local languages,” said Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri.
Ends
