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Fungi Kwaramba
Political Editor
EVEN sleeping men, deep in their mortal slumber, perchance until the hereafter, speak of peace, whisperings that linger longer in the ears of patriots who love Zimbabwe and seek no harm to the motherland.
Specifically, the late Vice President John Nkomo’s message against violence comes to mind that “peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with all of us” constantly reminding each and every Zimbabwean that we should embrace peace and abhor conflict and violence.
Of course such a loaded message can only come from Zanu PF, for since before Independence the party has always blazed trails, pitted against the white supremacist colonial regime – with superior weaponry it triumphed to usher in the freedom that flourishes in Zimbabwe to this day.
These freedoms, unfettered, have specifically flourished under the Second Republic as President Mnangagwa focuses on delivering Zimbabwe to an upper-middle-class economy by 2030 all on the plinths of peace, unity, and love, cardinal principles that the country’s chief executive espouses in abundance.
It is no rocket science that investors prefer peaceful destinations – a country with predictable operating bases where capital is safe – for don’t they say in basic economics parlance that capital is timid?
What Zimbabwe seeks under President Mnangagwa, the lead singer in the Peace soundtrack to this year’s elections is PEACE, and he has spoken time without number on the immutability of that cardinal principle from which Zimbabweans, regardless of political affiliation, can all draw inspiration from and strive to avoid conflict at all costs.
Last week, the President was given the Freedom of the City of Gweru – a multi-party local authority where the councillors rose above narrow politics to honour a man who has contributed to its growth and that of the nation at large.
“I am humbled by the honour you have bestowed upon me. It is an indication that democracy in our country has matured,” said President Mnangagwa.
“This is a demonstration that there is much more that unites us no matter our party differences and preferences. This is what it should be in a democracy. We are all Zimbabweans. This is our only home, our only country. This is the spirit that should permeate throughout our country. Even as we gear up for the forthcoming harmonised elections, let us remain united, preaching peace and harmony among our people.”
So determined to ensure that the country has a peaceful environment before, during and after elections that the President ordered a rerun in a few constituencies and wards that were occasioned by violence in the recently held Zanu-PF primary elections.
“We have the onerous obligation and responsibility to set example on non-violence in the Party and in the country, and to send a clear, undiluted message against any such acts of political violence. This we did, without fear or favour. This we continue to do as we review results which those party primaries yielded.
“Any instances of infractions against core values and expectations of our Party automatically lead to disqualification, which then triggers internal by-elections.
“Such a stance puts us in very strong stead to preach, and, in turn, to demand non-violence from all players in the forthcoming national plebiscite, which we insist must unfold in total peace and harmony: before, during and long after,” the President wrote in his weekly column on Sunday.
This is because the President and his generation have played the most difficult part that called for sweat and blood to dislodge the white settler regime, now the duty of present generations is to effortlessly vote and safeguard the nation’s sovereignty conscious on the true values of Africanism.
The message of the President is important in as much it is timeless and in the epochal context towards Vision 2030, to become an upper-middle-class economy, forms the basis for economic prosperity not just for a few but for each and every Zimbabwe regardless of geographical location or origin.
That prosperity cannot be achieved in a crisis-riddled country, improvement of the quality of life that the President seeks is intertwined with peace, and that is why the President hammers that message not only by word of mouth but also practice even as his party Zanu PF punishes a few malcontents who did not toe the straight and narrow during the recently held primary elections.
According to the 2019 Business and Peace Report from the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), economic prosperity and peace are often mutually reinforcing.
“Better economic performance assists in building peace and vice-versa. Together, these elements can form a virtuous cycle. Similarly, worsening performance in levels of peace hinders economic growth, forming a vicious cycle. The economy and peace can therefore be thought of as a system that can move in either a beneficial or destructive direction”.
Between 1960 and 2016, highly peaceful countries registered per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth nearly three times higher than that of low-peace countries; they had an average GDP per capita growth of 2,8 percent, while the rate was only one percent in the least peaceful countries.
This is why Zimbabwe needs peace to sustain the growth that has been recorded since the advent of the Second Republic despite the shocks caused by geopolitical upheavals, climate change, the illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
When peace deteriorates, interest rates often shoot up, and there will be market volatility and unpredictability, combinations that induce economic decline, but we are long past that corner, indefatigably barrelling towards prosperity.
Surely after turning a page, with inflation arrested, multilateral companies making their way into Zimbabwe, the mining sector heading towards becoming a US$12 billion economy, and food security achieved, we cannot afford any slip-up.
There is empirical evidence that foreign direct investment (FDI) increases with peace, and it is a strong determinant of economic development in developing countries like Zimbabwe – as it creates jobs, brings money, and also technologies that we seek in our Vision to modernize and industrialise in our quest to leapfrog our development.
This is why it is important that we have peaceful elections, even as we are on the lookout for staged violence for foreign notice and validation to justify the maintenance of illegal sanctions, which opposition parties seek to profit from by making Zimbabweans angrily vote against Zanu PF.
The outcome of elections, therefore, gives birth to legitimate institutions that are critical in reproducing and entrenching peace, and ultimately conducive environs for the investor to come in.
Conversely, disputed outcomes, themselves by-products of violence and conflict, will set the nation backward and cause insecurities that are repellent to investment and consequently the collective national Vision to prosper, lift millions into prosperity suffers a setback or whither, something that Zimbabwe, after all the efforts put in various sectors by President Mnangagwa, can ill afford.
Online Reporter