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Happison Chikova
Correspondent
As Zimbabwe is heading towards the 2023 general election, it should sink in people’s minds that “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”.
The significance of this saying crafted by President Mnangagwa is profound, as it demonstrates the practicality of being Zimbabwean.
Being Zimbabwean does not only come in words, but in deeds that are aimed at contributing to the development of the country, beginning at the individual level.
It is a wake-up call that will continue to reverberate beyond the 2023 harmonised elections, and every Zimbabwean must be distinguished for striving to contribute to the development of the country.
Let us face the truth, the West and its allies have made little contribution to Zimbabwe’s development and sub- Saharan Africa as a whole.
This is because during colonialism, Western countries were interested in benefiting themselves from the resources of the colonised countries.
Even after independence, the Western countries pretended to have left, but in reality they continued salivating at the abundant African resources in the former colonies.
As a result, when they pretend to work with African countries, they are doing so with their major focus being on how they can benefit from the abundant natural resources, not with the aim of helping develop the countries.
This is why when Zimbabwe repossessed its land, most multinational companies operating in the country closed as an act of economic sabotage.
They had lost one of the major resources they thought they were going to possess forever.
Multinational companies are in the habit of exporting raw materials and set manufacturing industries in their home countries, creating millions of jobs for their kith and kin, hence disadvantaging the host countries.
After exploiting the resources, they then produce highly-priced finished goods which they export to the developing countries from where they would have extracted the raw materials.
This untenable relationship cannot be allowed to go on without being challenged by the developing countries.
It is an exploitative system that disadvantages developing countries, which end up at the receiving end of the unfair and unjust system.
In Zimbabwe, we thank God for Zanu PF’s policy on beneficiation and value addition, which compels companies exploiting natural resources to move away from exporting without first processing the resources into high value goods.
This is why come 2023, Zimbabweans must give Zanu PF more time to govern and implement the empowerment agenda for the locals to fully reap the rewards of independence.
Zanu PF is a resilient party which has been pushing the development agenda aggressively, especially following the advent of the New Dispensation in 2017.
The party’s history of being people-centred has seen the West and its allies funding political activities through failed projects such as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a host of non-governmental organisations in a bid to remove the Zanu PF Government.
The same people who once masqueraded as the MDC are now wearing the CCC (Chamisa Chete Chete) jacket to disguise donors who may think it’s a new political outfit.
Yet, it is a group of people with no agenda, the same old faces that failed in the MDC.
There is nothing that can be expected of a people without an ideology and values, and who think of selling their birth right and the country’s resources over some few coins.
The Western-sponsored NGO sector has become a business trading zone where our lazy brothers and sisters earn a living by spreading lies about a democratically elected Zanu PF Government.
To make matters worse, most of the people who go around narrating lies about the Government and Zanu PF are the beneficiaries of the socio-economic safety nets from the same government.
Who in Zimbabwe has never benefited from the Zanu PF Government since 1980 in one way or the other?
Most of those fronting the CCC colonial project are a result of the Zanu PF’s free education policy, which saw them going through university on Government payouts.
Nelson Chamisa and his colleagues benefited from the government education system.
The madness of some of our brothers in the opposition has reached a point where they approach foreign television and radio stations to discuss their lies about Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.
They formulate the lies and then stir debate around these lies to the extent of taking them to gullible foreign media where they peddle them as the truth.
Do South Africans or Americans engage Zimbabwe’s television and radio stations for airtime to denigrate their leaders and discuss their internal affairs?
This shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with the crop of opposition leaders in Zimbabwe.
This crop doesn’t identify with Ubuntu, but a spirit of mental degeneration.
If it is democracy causing all this psychosis, better they stay with their kind of democracy, while we keep our Pan-Africanism.
Progressive countries such as Zimbabwe have been fought to the deep end because of their black people empowerment agenda.
It then boggles the mind why some of our country folk from the opposition think that one day America and its allies will have a prominent role in developing Zimbabwe.
Their short memory cannot contextualise the effects of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by those touted as the architects of democracy.
Progressive African leaders whose agenda is empowerment and development have been labelled dictators and violators of human rights by the same people the opposition thinks will bring development to the country.
It was Muammar Gaddafi, then Robert Mugabe, John Pombe Magufuli and then our dignified leader President Mnangagwa.
They are all vilified, yet their major achievements are in advancing the status of their local populations and ensuring they are empowered to participate in development and move out of poverty.
Under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe is witnessing peace and tranquillity, which is the bedrock and the cornerstone for sustainable development.
A simple check list of President Mnangagwa’s development agenda will reveal that almost all boxes have been ticked through the implementation of various developmental programmes meant to lift people out of poverty.
This is why the President is now known with his famous saying of “leaving no one and no place behind”.
There is no doubt that President Mnangagwa’s Government has opened democratic spaces and avenues for good governance. On the other hand, the Government has constructed massive infrastructure such as dams, roads, airports and ports of entry.
The list of these infrastructure development projects is endless, all aimed at improving the people’s lives towards achieving Vision 2030 of attaining an upper middle income economy.
It must ring in Zimbabwe’s enemies’ ears, especially Western-sponsored political parties, that infrastructure development is an enabler for economic growth.
Other programmes include Command Agriculture, the Presidential livestock pass-on scheme and the Presidential agricultural input schemes.
How about the social care and security services under the National Social Security Authority and the Department of Social Services?
These have been providing social safety nets for the populace and ensuring that those who cannot access services because of their status are bailed out.
It is heartening to note that most people who live in rural areas and the marginalised places appreciate these simple economic principles more than those in urban areas.
Serial government critics should remember that the tertiary education system that enabled them to acquire their diplomas, bachelors, honours, masters and PhD degrees is a result of the use of the Zimbabwe dollar that has kept fees at affordable rates.
But when you hear them criticising the Zimbabwe dollar, one would think that they are not beneficiaries of the same government programmes.
They are now even criticising the gold coins, yet some of the countries that support them use such coins in abundance.
They want to paint a picture that the gold coins are only bad when it comes to Zimbabwe.
To them, anything from the West and its allies is fantastic and anything from our government is superficial.
This is how their handlers have made them behave or else they get no funding.
It is only in Zimbabwe where even a school drop-out is now acting like the Minister of Finance.
Our fellows in the opposition must not forget that Zimbabwe is under an economic transition. Many other countries have at some point gone through such transitions.
Is it wrong for the government to open the mining space to Zimbabweans so that they own and control their resources? These national programmes are identified with sustainability because, as capacity develops, the mines will systematically benefit future generations.
Where in Africa can you find all these empowerment programmes like those being availed by the Zanu PF government? Zimbabwe is now the torch bearer for Africa on development, thanks to the Zanu PF government and its progressive policies.
So, don’t be left behind.
Zimbabweans must give Zanu PF more time to govern and implement the empowerment agenda to its fullest, come 2023 and many other elections in future.
Online Reporter