President salutes workers

Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
AS commemorations to mark Workers’ Day approach, President Mnangagwa has paid tribute to workers for their invaluable contribution to the growth of the country’s economy and implored all of them to harness their efforts to ensure increased production.

Workers’ Day is celebrated annually on May 1.

Writing in his weekly column in our sister paper The Sunday Mail yesterday, President Mnangagwa said if all Zimbabweans were to be more productive, the economy would continue to grow resulting in the achievement of set national goals.

“Let me pay tribute to our working class, both in formal and in informal employment,” he said.

“Together, we continue to create and add value to our economy, thus making it productive and competitive. The African Continental Free Trade Area we signed up to requires that we produce and manufacture goods so we can trade with the rest of our continent.

“This assignment has become even more urgent, with the upheavals registering in global markets. As we celebrate Workers’ Day, let us commit ourselves to more productive work and to doubling national value so we meet our growth and development targets, both of which are within grasp.”

The Government has set, through Vision 2030, a target of becoming an upper middle income economy by 2030 and is implementing the National Development Strategy 1 to achieve the goal.

Various sectoral policies are being implemented to ensure the achievement of the goal, including revamping key infrastructure such as roads and boosting power generation and ramping up agricultural and mining output.

Despite the effects of the illegal sanctions and Covid-19 pandemic, the country has been experiencing economic growth with the economy expected to grow by up to 5,5 percent mainly due to the investor friendly policies adopted by the Government.

Last week, a local Non-Governmental Organisation, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, said the country’s manufacturing sector grew by 38 percent in 2021.

This is contained in a report produced after a recent survey titled, “NDS1: Abridged Civil Society Monitoring Mechanism”, which attributed the growth to policies being implemented by the Government.

President Mnangagwa has come up with the, “Nyika inovakwa ne vene vayo,” mantra as a guiding philosophy that emphasises that the responsibility to develop Zimbabwe largely lies in the hands of its citizens.