malvernmugadzikwa
National Focus
Dr Jenfan Muswere
AS the month of September comes to a close, it is crucial to reflect on the life cycle of the Second Republic.
Dear reader, it has been a year since President Mnangagwa was overwhelmingly elected into office as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. This was against the odds of imperialist-impounded reactionary machinations.
His policy milestones sent the opposition to early political retirement. The collapse of the opposition due to internal contradictions, lack of political gravitas and President Mnangagwa’s game-changing economic strategies have changed Zimbabwe’s political terrain.
The collapse of a colonially enabled opposition furthers the much-needed support for the immediate and unconditional removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
With a diminished rabble-rousing factionally degenerated opposition, the nationalist movement is now in good stead than ever before. A year after his re-election, the opposition remains buried in defeat, with no hopes of resurrection in the near future. History will remember President Mnangagwa for this political feat.
Political economy turnaround
On a broader side of our national question, Dr Mnangagwa’s renewed mandate is better underscored in terms of our upward spiralling gross domestic product.
Among his other legacy footprints is fiscal consolidation, monetary policy restoration, liberalisation of the foreign exchange, market structural transformation, governance reforms and infrastructural development, as well as the success of the engagement and re-engagement policy.
As Vision 2030 beckons, poverty eradication is fast becoming clear for all who care to see, thanks to the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), whose successful execution has given tangible policy deliverables to the Second Republic. NDS2 is coming to mop up the reform remnants of a national renaissance that began in November 2017.
The escalating level of legislative and policy reform locomotives by President Mnangagwa’s leadership will continue to repair Zimbabwe’s international reputation, which has suffered an onslaught since the nation took up the agrarian revolution.
Diplomatic realignment
The successful hosting of the 44th Ordinary SADC Heads of State and Government Summit voluminously emphasises Zimbabwe’s strategic diplomatic repositioning. In line with our Afro-centric policy inclination, the summit was an opportunity for Zimbabwe to declare its foundational commitment to regional integration.
This is a prerogative we draw from our anti-colonial predisposition. We won our independence due to the collaborative support we received from our neighbours and other progressive global allies. Likewise, outside our membership protocols to the regional bloc, Zimbabwe has a moral obligation and an ideological burden to support any initiative that stands in the way of imperialist interests.
The summit also offered the region a first-hand experience of the governance renewal milestone of the Second Republic. This places Zimbabwe at the centre of regional intra-trade. Regardless of the frantic and quickly contained efforts to trigger despondency by merchants of violence, Zimbabweans maintained peace and tranquillity throughout the country.
The infrastructure souvenirs of the summit include a newly rehabilitated Robert Gariel Mugabe International Airport marked by a world-class pavilion, massive road construction projects and top-notch up-scaling of hotel and conferencing facilities.
The rest of the region is now fully aware of the pragmatic development initiatives being undertaken in Zimbabwe, thanks to the consistent and steadfast industrial brilliance of President Mnangagwa, who has progressively nudged the nation to unprecedented levels of socio-economic development.
Foreign direct investment has multiplied in all spheres of the economy. The success of the Transform Africa Summit hosted by Zimbabwe in 2023 brought together presidents, prime ministers, 40 ministers, countless technologists, engineers, investors and scholars to Victoria Falls. This international stakeholder summit mapped and located the continent’s smart technology deployment trajectory.
Immediately after the SADC summit, the Head of State had a State visit to China and participated in the Focus on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit.
The FOCAC summit gives an audit of the economic dividends that have been realised as a result of Zimbabwe’s longstanding political collegiality with the People’s Republic of China. FOCAC strengthened and deepened Zimbabwe-China relations, as evidenced by renewed terms of cooperation between the two nations in various spheres of economic development.
This brings to the fore the changing complex interdependent relations of the two countries.
Our present mutual interests are interwoven with a history dating back to the formative days of African nationalism. China’s material, military and ideological investment into our armed struggle for liberation buttresses a shared indelible ideological convergence against colonialism.
At the peak of the illegal sanctions regime, China’s support to Zimbabwe recuperated our economy from Western-designed decapitation plans. China used its seat in the United Nations Security Council to veto military interventions by nations that were opposed to Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme.
Thereafter, China became Zimbabwe’s agricultural development partner. Today, the sector’s mechanisation drive registers part of its success to the help received from China. Growing Chinese investment in the mining sector and infrastructure development is also testimony of the ever-blossoming brotherly ties of our nations.
China’s humanitarian interventions in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe also attest to the solid premise of our fraternal ties. Therefore, FOCAC was crucial in strengthening this important relationship embedded in history and future prospects of a shared development.
Eighty-two years younger: Aluta continua!
On September 15, the President turned 82. This milestone imposes a reflection on his selfless dedication to the nation.
Inspired by his revolutionary credence, we pay homage to his contribution to the foundational architecture of our State before and since Zimbabwe’s early independence.
His pro-people leadership track record in various tasks he undertook prior to his deserved appointment as Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe in 2014 is worth emulating. His elevation in Zanu PF in 2017, election in 2018 and re-election in 2023 makes him a living parable of diligence, hard work, virtue and honour.
Therefore, the celebration of his birthday is symbolic of how we cherish his infallible lifelong exploits to national independence, the ferocious protection of national sovereignty, poverty eradication and creation of a just society. His gravitas and works are evident of Solomonic wisdom aimed at leaving no one and no place behind.
Dr Jenfan Muswere is the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter