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Faced with an unstoppable economic crusade being spearheaded by President Mnangagwa, opposition cynics are resorting to all manner of tactics to blight the impact of the reforms.
However, any objective observer won’t fail to see the fact that President Mnangagwa’s transformational agenda is predicated upon a desire to create a usable past within a changing present so as to secure a liveable future.
However, given the damage inflicted on the economy in the last two decades or so, securing the envisaged liveable future is never an instantaneous event.
Realising the enormous work at hand, President Mnangagwa has persistently and consistently called upon Zimbabwe to refrain from being fixated on divisive political rancour and instead focus on issues that bring the economy to life.
For the benefit of doubters, we itemise some of the reforms that have so far been implemented and are having a direct impact on the well-being of the people and the economy in general.
The Cabinet
Despite fervent efforts by some disparagers, President Mnangagwa has made it a point to remodel the governance structure to make it more efficient and people-centred.
Zimbabweans have for long raised concern over a bloated Cabinet, a peculiarity often associated with the First Republic.
As a listening President, Cde Mnangagwa has not only made the Cabinet leaner and more efficient, but has made a bold decision of redeploying some cadres to the ruling Zanu-PF party.
In trimming the Cabinet from 26 to 22, the President reduced profligacy, brought efficiency and set the tonic for economic growth.
A leaner Cabinet reduces unnecessary expenditure. A bloated Cabinet has for years been gobbling about 90 percent of the national Budget, thereby negatively affecting implementation of capital projects.
The Civil Service
Having set up a leaner Cabinet, the next task was to rationalise the civil service. Individuals that had reached retirement age were retired in a move meant to ensure that the workforce was fit for purpose.
Off went Mr Mariyawanda Nzuwah and in came Mr Vincent Hungwe who assumed the position on June 1 2018. Long-time Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede also left the civil service.
Besides retiring the likes of Mudede and Nzuwah, 3 384 youth officers from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation were also retired.
In weeding out ghost workers, the Government introduced biometric registration that ensures that each person being paid by the Government for services rendered is properly accounted for.
The Police Force
This was one institution that needed urgent reform. Then led by Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, the ZRP had become an institution reviled by the public.
His reign was associated with the ubiquitous roadblocks or checkpoints that were blamed for scarring away international tourists and motorists viewed police presence as more of a fundraising activity than maintaining law and order.
Commissioner-General Chihuri has since been replaced by Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, an appointment welcomed by most Zimbabweans across the social and political strata.
State Entities
Air Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), and ZESA Holdings have all not been spared from reform.
Four Boeing 777 aircraft from Malaysia were acquired together with an Embraer aircraft purchased from the USA. The new planes have added a new impetus in opening Zimbabwe to investment and boost local tourism and trade. At the GMB, the entity was split into two; the commercial entity and the strategic grain reserve function. Drastic changes are also in the offing at ZESA where different units are to merge into a “single vertically integrated company.”
The move is meant to reduce costs and lethargy associated with a bloated structure that is top-heavy.
Cabinet also approved the unbundling of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ), the roadmap of the privatization of TelOne and NetOne as a single entity and the partial privatization of Allied Timbers, POSB, ZUPCO, AGRIBANK and IDBZ.
All the reforms were in tandem with the Public Enterprise Reform Framework under the auspices of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP).
The TSP feeds into the President’s Vision 2030 meant to transform Zimbabwe into an Upper Middle Income economy.
Infrastructure Development
The Government has so far spent about $2,5 billion on infrastructure projects that are key enablers in attaining the targets set under Vision 2030.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the official opening of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament, the President laid out his vision saying: “The modernisation and rehabilitation of our infrastructure, in particular road networks, has resumed in earnest, with noticeable progress.
“Given that these are key enablers to our national economic revival as envisaged under Vision 2030, we are determined to leapfrog the quality of our infrastructure across the country.”
The President said to date, a total of $2,5 billion, which constitutes 34,5 percent of total capital development, has been set aside for various transport, water, public amenities, energy, irrigation, social services and other infrastructural projects.
Indeed, Hwange 7 and 8 Thermal Power Project, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Expansion, borehole rehabilitation and drilling, construction of the new Parliament Building are projects on course. Dam construction projects such as the Marovanyati, Gwayi-Shangani, among others are also on schedule.
After years of international isolation and economic stagnation, what President Mnangagwa is doing is spearheading a “Rebuild the Nation” campaign anchored on foundational cardinals of peace, security, development and opening and entrenching the democratic space.
President Mnangagwa’s detractors are panicking because they are fully aware that the successful implementation of the reforms results in less dissatisfaction by citizens and eliminates protest vote and a permanent state of agitation.
The MDC-Alliance and its cohorts are conscious of the fact that a reformed Zanu-PF pre-empts the opposition party as an alternative.
In short, a reformed Government and a reformed revolutionary party and the assured attendant positive outcome literally makes the MDC-Alliance and all other opposition irrelevant ahead of the 2023 plebiscite.
President Mnangagwa by word and deed is a man of great bravery propelled by the courage of his convictions in promoting the necessary social, political and economic changes.
The sooner the President’s detractors disabuse themselves of their dystopian nightmares, the better for everyone.
Online Reporter