Online Reporter
Sam Matema
The Second Republic’s thrust on foreign policy and international relations was clear right from the start.
It was fashioned, designed, framed, and couched in simple terms but with deep meaning — friend to all, enemy to none.
In letter and spirit, this was followed by an engagement and re-engagement exercise that was deliberate and intentional.
It was executed with both tact and laser precision, to the extent that even time could not delay or postpone Zimbabwe’s victory.
There were clear objectives and key deliverables that the delegation led by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, followed to the letter.
That the Zimbabwean approach paid off admits of no debate.
The country’s crowning moment came with the United Nations Security Council vote where it came out with a landslide victory as 182 of the 190 countries voted for Zimbabwe.
This is as telling as it is instructive in many ways. Zimbabwe’s “pariah status” tag has been removed.
The international community has embraced the country, and this is thanks to the visionary, inclusive, forward-focused and forward-leaning leadership of President Mnangagwa, who is also the First Secretary of the revolutionary party, Zanu-PF.
No one can take this away from him.
History is not jealous; it will always record that President Mnangagwa is the man who stirred the boat of re-engagement through crocodile-infested waters to terra firma in the context of the current geo-political order.
To those who worked round the clock to try and give Zimbabwe a false tag, history is unforgiving in its judgment.
As we celebrate the victory and voice that we have been handed on the global stage and table, we must seize the moment to derive the eco-socio-political dividend possible for ourselves, region, continent and globally with respect to peace and security.
Peace and security are key ingredients concomitant to sustainable growth and development at UN level and beyond.
UNSC structure
The United Nations Security Council is made up of 15 member states, five of which are permanent members — the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom — all with veto power.
The non-permanent members are voted on rotational basis to serve for a period of two years.
This is where the disconnect and dislocation resides, which should be corrected for the good of Africa.
Where to from here?
It is about time that Africa has a permanent seat with veto powers on the UNSC table, and for this to crystallise into reality, the continent must speak with one voice.
There is no justification, whichever way you look at it, why Africa, with more than 1,3 billion people, is not represented.
We must seriously engage and demand our permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
The engagement should be from a united front.
The moment we allow the global North to divide us, we are doomed.
It is about time that we collectively rid the continent of the willing tools that the West has used over the years to further their imperial interests and order.
The United States of Africa is a noble proposition and the way to go if we seriously entertain the possibility of extricating ourselves from the jaws of the global North in our quest for the realisation of sustainable growth and development, and a new world order that reflects both population and natural resources distribution.
Africa is the richest continent in terms of the critical natural resources driving the global economy, but it is the poorest continent as well.
What a contradiction!
Context is everything. Post the partitioning of Africa, the scramble for Africa via the Berlin Conference of 1884, it is not the global North that has and is defending the borders, but ourselves.
We are our worst enemies. We are the key defenders of a Western creation, the partitioning of Africa.
We need to right this wrong pronto through some serious operation. Operation Restore Africa!
*Sam Matema is the National Assembly Member for Buhera Central constituency, Zanu-PF Manicaland Province Secretary for Administration, Climate Parliament Zimbabwe Chapter chairman and chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife. He writes in his personal capacity.
