Chronicle EditorVincent Gono, Features Editor
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has redefined the country’s Independence Day celebrations in Bulawayo today as a day that is not only commemorative of the historical past but one that should set the stage for the country’s leadership to concentrate its focus on specific and peculiar needs of each region when it hosts the national event and set the pace for development in line with the devolution agenda.
The President said the decentralisation of the Independence Day celebrations was going to be a permanent feature going forward adding that no one place or city should monopolise the national commemorations.
He said the movement of the celebrations from the capital to Bulawayo were not supposed to be read simply as a change of geography but as a loud statement of inclusivity and collective ownership of the day.
“For the first time in the history of our 42 years of Independence, we mark this sacred day away from Harare, our capital city. The commemorative festivities will be held in Bulawayo, our second largest capital.
“This is much more than a mere change of venue and geography. It is a profound statement on collective ownership of the day.
We all share it as Zimbabweans, regardless of village, town, city, district or province. Indeed, that day unites us all as one people, whatever our colour, creed, tribe, sub-culture, language, age or gender. For that reason, no one place or city monopolises its commemoration,” said President Mnangagwa in one of his weekly columns.
He said from this year going into the future, all regions will take turns to host this very important day so that the whole nation identifies with it in equal measure.
“Again, this is more than a mere hosting responsibility; it is an opportunity for the national leadership to concentrate its focus on specific and peculiar needs of each region when it hosts this national event.
“In future, the host region must arrange for a week-long conference preceding the anniversary, and during which the focus will be on it exclusively.
This neatly dovetails with our broader, constitutionally mandated policy of devolution by which powers of, and decisions on, governance and development cascades down to regions,” he said.
He says the day is supposed to present an opportunity for the country’s leadership to take stock of how each of the ten regions has fared, or is faring, in carving a distinct economy based on its unique factor endowments.
“Any one region hosting our Nation for this happy commemoration, must give us a picture of its total situation, warts and all. We want to know about the state of infrastructure, the basic social amenities, the state of education, contribution to our national agriculture, the natural resources available to it, and how, in meticulous combination, all these are interacting to yield provincial GDPs and rural industrialisation which contribute to the overall national GDP,” he added.
The President says while it is good that the concept of devolution has brought with it the development of growth points that will burgeon into towns and cities, it was critical to ensure that the transformation to urbanity is underpinned and driven by gainful economic activity as opposed to concentrated human settlement.
“A key question to ask, therefore, is what economic activity agglomerates and supports those settlements? How are residents of those sprouting urban settlements eking out a living; what is their livelihood?
“Such a key question allows us to plan for rural transformation through gainful economic activity, as opposed to rural pauperisation through thoughtless densification of settlements. Towns and cities are nodes of industrial activity; they are not just demographic propositions.
“Zimbabwe must avoid DIY or Do-It-Yourself towns and cities which mushroom chaotically, driven and shaped by unemployed, informal settlers living on margins of a few manufacturing hubs. Such unplanned settlements eat into our agricultural land, and thus create insupportable population settlements,” said President Mnangagwa.
He urged Ministers of State for Devolution and Provincial Affairs to look at this matter very closely, before it gets out of hand.
On the Gwayi-Shangani project, he said the project has now started in earnest and Bulawayo’s water woes should be resolved conclusively before 2023.
“Along the way, that pipeline will be depositing water, to turn Matabeleland into a sustainable green belt,” he added.
The President said he was however, appalled by vandalisation of infrastructure in the country and warned those doing it to stop forthwith.
“This is particularly so in respect of infrastructure for our national electricity grid. This vandalism, which has also affected Epping Waterworks in Nyamandlovu, must come to an end.
I warn those dabbling on the wrong side of the law that we will catch up with them quite soon. They will only have themselves to blame. They are drawing us back,” he said.
Online Reporter