Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter
THE Second Republic will confront, transparently and decisively, the challenges Zimbabweans face in the country’s next chapter of national development, President Mnangagwa has said.
In a wide-ranging interview with Belarusian National Television at State House in Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said his administration’s approach to leadership was anchored on citizens’ needs today, not in assumptions made by any institutions.
“Most importantly, we must make sure that we listen to the needs of our people, the ordinary person in the countryside, the people in the urban areas, what are their needs,” he said, adding that Government will continually adjust to “the needs of the times.”
President Mnangagwa said the Second Republic would “always make sure we listen, we hear the desires and the needs and the expectations of our people”.
“Well, what is critically important is that as a nation, as a people, we deal with that which faces us, which needs to be addressed. We always make sure we listen; we hear the desires and the needs and the expectations of our people.
“That’s what we do, and we do our utmost to achieve and accomplish. I know that we cannot satisfy every individual, but collectively as a group and as a leadership, we do our best to serve the needs of our people,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said his administration was alive to the reality that the country’s demographic and social pressures were evolving, meaning citizens must be heard differently from year to year.
“The youth demography must be attended to; their interests, their aspirations continue to differ from year to year. So as a Government and as a leadership, we give them an ear so that we make sure we address and we adapt to the needs of the times,” he said.
The President reassured Zimbabweans that Government would not only respond to challenges as they appear, but would anticipate how those challenges reshape public expectations, ranging from economic realities to social priorities.
He spoke directly to the question of credit for national progress, dismissing the notion that achievements could be attributed to an individual leader.
President Mnangagwa said his own political journey, like Zimbabwe’s broader history, had been shaped by circumstances and the demands of each era.
“Well, I don’t think that what has happened in the entire journey of my career in my party, or the struggle of our country, I one day said, ‘I was determined to do what I had to do’, circumstances make you do the things that you do.
“At each time in history, challenges come and on the basis of the challenges that you face, you do your best to surmount those challenges. So I don’t think that anything that we have achieved can be attributed to an individual. I always believe in the collective effort through my party ZANU PF and of course the entire population of our country,” he said.
On his brotherly relations with his counterpart President Aleksandr Lukashenko, President Mnangagwa said their relations operated at two levels, personal friendship and State-to-State cooperation.
“The relationship that has developed between Belarus and Zimbabwe, but especially between the two Presidents, myself and my brother, is very comfortable.
“We share a lot, but at the end of the day, Zimbabwe benefits because Belarus is more developed than us,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said Harare was fortunate to have a first-world partner like Minsk, which continues to facilitate and help Zimbabwe’s developmental efforts.
Zimbabwe and Belarus maintain strong, expanding, strategic and economic ties, anchored by high-level visits between Presidents Mnangagwa and Lukashenko.
Cooperation has focused heavily on agricultural mechanisation, trade, defence, and mutual diplomatic support against illegal Western sanctions.
“And also, we have our people, our young people going to your country (Belarus) to receive education and training in various fields and this benefits us in terms of acquiring these skills to develop our own country.
“We are a developing third world country and we are lucky that we have a country like Belarus that facilitates and helps us develop in various areas, especially in the economic subsector of our endeavour,” he said.
Asked whether mechanisation agreements were being implemented or were just ending on paper, the President assured the Belarusian news crew that they were taking effect.
“In all our provinces, wherever you go, you find Belarus tractors”, he said adding that even he has two Belarusian tractors and other machinery at his farm.
“If you go to my farm, from the combine harvester to tractors, most of them are Belarusian machinery, and they are very popular in this country,” President Mnangagwa said.
Quizzed on how Zimbabwe had managed to circumvent Western-imposed sanctions, the President said the country had decided to look inward and cultivate homegrown solutions to the country’s challenges.
“And we don’t need to go to other countries to ask them to feed our people. We make sure we say to ourselves, our people, family by family, village by village, district by district, province by province, that the burden to feed ourselves is upon ourselves. The burden to develop our country is upon ourselves.
“Other people can only come and assist, but the primary task and burden rests on our own shoulders; a country can only be developed by its own people, not by foreign people,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said that despite global tensions, his focus every day is Zimbabwe, how to develop the country and keep the youth committed, patriotic, and engaged in safeguarding its future.
He added that Zimbabwe would continue to build young people’s capacity through education and skills, supported by cooperation with friendly nations that provide assistance and opportunities for further learning.
“Let me assure you that when I wake up, I’m not thinking about global politics or global dynamics. I think about my country; what should we do to develop Zimbabwe? What should we do to make sure the younger generation is engaged? They have the will to save their country.
“They must be patriotic about their country. They must realise that they must develop their country on the basis of the endowments that the country has,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said his dream was for ZANU PF’s development trajectory for the country to continue, expressing strong satisfaction with the party’s younger leadership and their commitment to the ZANU PF philosophy.
“I believe that even today, if the current leadership goes away, those who are behind us, the younger generation in the youth league, both in the women and youth leadership, the country will continue to grow and prosper.
“I’m so, so, so, so confident ZANU PF will rule and rule, rule and rule,” he said.
Belarusian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Yury Nikalaichyk was also in attendance during the interview.
