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Khumbulani Vodloza Sibanda
ON Sunday, 22 December, the country celebrated the 32nd anniversary of the historic Unity Accord. The late National Heroes, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo signed the Unity Accord which brought peace which the country still cherishes to this day.
This historic moment reminds the Zimbabwean population that despite our political differences, race, educational background and different culture we could still find each other and cause social-economic development to take place for the benefit of all people.
The Unity Accord brought about a conducive environment which saw the country becoming an investment destination of choice. The same spirit is required now to see the country through its challenges. Unity will be fodder for remarkable infrastructure development, an improved health care and education system as well as stepping into the fourth industrial revolution together with the global village.
Unity of purpose
Unity is there to promote oneness despite differences in political affiliations. For a nation to develop it needs the efforts of its entire people working together for a common goal. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has made the clarion call countless times calling for “unity, unity, unity and more unity”. The President has made unity his national slogan as he calls on all Zimbabweans to love one another and to promote national development.
It is important to note members of the opposition MDC led by Nelson Chamisa are not for unity as they are working day and night to see this country plunging into chaos and becoming ungovernable.
This heinous agenda is of course being pushed by the West which has found a willing pawn in the self-absolved opposition political party, the MDC.
What the “learned” MDC is failing to grasp is that national aspirations and interests go beyond individuals and political parties. There is no nation which develops when its people are divided or polarised in a typical MDC style “tongai tione” while engaging in “kudira jecha musadza”. This kind of mentality is not acceptable at all as it drags the nation behind in terms of development and co-operating with the international community.
Peace and stability
Unity brings with it peace and stability which are the crucial ingredients for boosting investor confidence. Investors prefer to invest in a country which enjoys peace and stability for the safety of their investment and growth of their enterprise. As Zimbabweans it is important for us to work towards promoting peace in order to attract investors of the highest pedigree.
The late National Hero and Vice-President, John Landa Nkomo during the tenure of the Government of National Unity (2009 to 2013) promoted the slogan “Peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with us”. This slogan promoted tolerance and unity among Zimbabweans and it is that same spirit that should be promoted now.
When peace and unity are prevailing in the country; that country is bound to receive a lot of grants for various projects which creates social safety nets for the citizens. At the same time Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is bound to flow in as safety of their investment will be guaranteed as opposed to political bickering which is deterrent.
Development
The Unity Accord brought about national development in terms of infrastructure. This saw the nation increasing the number of State universities from one to 12. Massive infrastructure development attracts well endowed investors because good road network, uninterrupted power supply and good internet connectivity, among others are the top priorities that investors look at before investing their funds in any particular country and Zimbabwe is no exception.
Politics and economic growth
When the politics of a country is correct, it directly impacts on economic growth. During the GNU era, the Zimbabwean economy reached the largest growth rate of 15,45 percent in the year 2011. Economic growth also means that industries will be operating at the maximum capacity thereby employing more people thus revenue to Government increases.
The standard of living of the citizens would significantly improve thus a healthy nation will emerge.
Unity also promotes tourism as the country would be classified as a safe tourist destination. Tourists brings business to almost all sectors of the economy such as hotels, car rentals, safaris, fuel, arts and crafts as well as the food sector. Tourism also brings in the much needed foreign currency.
With unity comes a stable labour market which any investor can use to select the employees he/ she wants. The absence of labour unrest due to unity between various political players makes the country lucrative for investors because they would not fear disruptions in their production processes.
All this is very important for Zimbabwe to realise Vision 2030 for the nation to become an upper-middle income economy.
Future generations
A nation whose interests are underpinned by unity will be laying a good foundation for future generations to build upon. With unity, children will attain good education which makes them compete on the world job market as well as becoming inventors of products. Whatever is achieved today will have a strong bearing on what this nation will become. It therefore means what people do today; they should do that taking into account that it would impact on the younger generations’ lives.
As we say goodbye to 2019, which saw the MDC spurning dialogue under the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad), we hope in 2020, the party will join others in trying to find lasting solutions to the country’s challenges by reconsidering the egoistical mentality.
Online Reporter