President Mnangagwa’s strong, steady leadership

Tapiwa Muruviwa, Correspondent

Let me start by congratulating President Mnangagwa on his ascendancy to be SADC Chairman.

The current development agenda is largely attributed to his strong, steady leadership.

Since assuming office in 2017, the Second Republic’s administration, under the astute leadership of President Mnangagwa has brought a different version of development.

During his inaugural speech on November 24, 2017, President Mnangagwa ticked all the boxes, letting the nation know that he stood for renewal, transformation, and more importantly, for the economy.

A number of commitments the President made have come to fruition.

This incumbent administration is often lauded for knitting original, and well researched development policies, which are mostly the expressions of the aspirations and interests of the people of Zimbabwe.

The developmental projects are well positioning Zimbabwe on a vantage point and towards the attainment of an upper middle income society by 2030.

It is for these reasons that of Zimbabweans have in the 2018 and 2023, harmonised elections pledged their unanimous support and unwavering allegiance to President Mnangagwa and the ruling party, ZANU PF.

By and large, in terms of what is evolving in Zimbabwe, there is consensus that is clearly embraced by everyone that this is the kind of leadership we will hold on to.

From the year 2000 onwards, Zimbabwe went through some tough times, which were characterised by the unjust Western sanctions that were imposed on the country after it embarked on the land reform.

Subsequently, this led to the breakdown of relations and the lines of credit that Zimbabwe used to get from the Bretton Woods Institutions were cut, and she was isolated from the international community.

This had a bearing on Zimbabwe’s political and economic systems, and in the end negatively affected all its people in more than one way.

Faced by these realities, the philosophy of “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”, was born as a shock absorber—a strategy to position Zimbabwe on a pedestal of prospects. The mantra is a route to manoeuvre and pursue a more independent development agenda.

Similarly, this change of discourse, and change of conceptual approach distinctly demonstrates President Mnangagwa’s altruism and strong political will, underscoring his vision towards building Zimbabwe, “brick by brick”.

Let me immediately talk about the energy crisis that is confronting our country.

Zimbabwe, like all other post-colonial African states has faced the danger of economic meltdown due to decade-long energy crisis characterised by repeated and prolonged blackouts.

Since President Mnangagwa came into office, there has been growing interventions to hasten the end of the energy crisis.

For the Second Republic administration the issue of energy generation as a precursor to Zimbabwe’s pursued industrialisation is top on the agenda.

The President has already commissioned expansion projects, the Hwange power station Unit 7 and Unit 8, which added 600 Megawatts to the national grid.

Although the country is not out of the woods yet, John Heywoods, states that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and true to this, under the leadership of President Mnangagwa the country is shaping ‘brick by brick’ towards affordable, reliable and sustainable energy supply, thus creating the conditions for growth and job creation.

In like manner, delivering the SADC 2024 Public Lecture at the University of Zimbabwe themed “Building Research Capacity and Innovation Ecosystems for a Sustainable Industrialised SADC economy”, President Mnangagwa led a revolutionary undertaking that set the tone for the emancipation of the African people.

The President touched on the issue of sustainable development, imploring delegates from SADC member states in attendance to shun the hegemonic power of financial capital that time and again undermine and lead African economies to be more dependent on the primary exportation of raw materials to the industrialised nations.

The President emphasised that the region must pursue industrialisation. This invokes the Critical Theory relating to the role of the postulation in clarifying the mechanisms of power to enforce change.

With more emphasis on the potential for change, Critical Theory argues that, change is only possible when society as a whole is made aware of the real nature of domination, so that the system is rejected.

Importantly, President Mnangagwa’s sentiments distinctly demonstrate the fundamental idea to make society aware that transformation is critical in both the Zimbabwean context and SADC bloc.

To buttress what the President said, what is essential to many of us and in the region is there should be consensus to shun dependency. Without that, the solutions we propose for our challenges will not bear the results we expect.

People really need to understand these broader issues.

Economists have argued that the path to economic transformation and development cannot be achieved by other means except through industrialisation.

History has shown that the dilemma of Zimbabwe like all other post-colonial African states can be understood in the context of not having an expanded productive economic sector that produces goods for our domestic and global consumption. Much focus was on the export chain structure dominated by primary commodities to the global markets.

It is in response to these realities of Zimbabwe’s economic structure that President Mnangagwa frequently berates the issue of perpetual dependency, to train minds towards establishing an alternative independent political and economic counter-hegemonic project through advancing industrialisation.

That in itself is an important reform and there is much to learn from President Mnangagwa’s strong, steady leadership.

The marrow of Mariana Mazzucato (2013) lies in her clear understanding of the centrality of state intervention in innovation systems, and armed with the intellectual tools of analysis, Mazzucato devoted her attention to debunking the idea that the state is simply a passive architect of innovation. In her article titled ‘The Entrepreneurial State’, Mazzucato, centres her argument on the pivotal role played by the state in administering transformative technological innovations through its funding of research and development.

Resonating with Mazzucato, President Mnangagwa’s administration has been at the centre of driving research, innovation and industrialisation through the Heritage Based Education 5.0 model.

In its quest towards an innovation-led and knowledge-driven economy, his administration has and still is funding research, innovation and more importantly it has built innovation hubs as well as industrial parks in all state institutions of higher learning.

Through this educational model there is an output of transformative technological innovations, skilled graduates and useful research.

An efficient education system anchored on research, innovation and industrialisation significantly propels Zimbabwe to accomplish its current development agenda. There can be no doubt that, all the major developments evolving in Zimbabwe are a clear testament of President Mnangagwa’s invaluable leadership and wisdom which should continue.

If President Mnangagwa can have the privilege to be in the office until or beyond 2030, I bet he will continue to work every single day to make sure Zimbabwe continues to be a great nation in Africa.