adminLloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
ZANU-PF has fulfilled a number of the goals of the majority of people since independence and its re-election on Wednesday will guarantee and consolidate these achievements.This is contained in the party’s manifesto dubbed “Taking back the Economy: Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment.”
The party also came up with intervention mechanisms to bust the illegal economic sanctions imposed on the country by Western countries at the behest of the MDC formations.
One of the goals cited is that the revolutionary party brought freedom and independence to ensure people’s goals are achieved.
“It is therefore understandable that Zimbabweans trust Zanu-PF as the party of liberation commitment to ensuring that Zimbabwe shall forever be free,” reads the manifesto.
“One clear current achievement of Zanu-PF, whose benefits have been self-evident and widespread, with far reaching positive implications over the next five years is the indigenisation of land and the empowerment of newly resettled farmers.
“As part of this indigenisation programme, Zanu-PF has through the Government also acquired various peri-urban farms where many low and middle income home seekers have been resettled under informal tenure that is set to be formalised.”
The development, the party said, gave hope to homeless urban dwellers on the housing waiting list whose backlog stands at 1, 25 million.
Zanu-PF said the success of the programme was affected by corrupt urban councils run by the MDC-T.
“After the elections, Zanu-PF will prioritise offering of tenure to urban beneficiaries of the historic land reform programme to foster home ownership to the people as an achievement of the indigenised land,” the manifesto reads.
The revolutionary party adds that to achieve the goal, urban voters especially those on the housing waiting list must vote for Zanu-PF to ensure that they benefit from the exercise.
As a result of the land reform exercise, about 276 620 indigenous households took full ownership of 12 117 000 hectares representing 31 percent of prime agricultural land previously controlled by some 3 500 white minority colonial settlers.
Zanu-PF adds that prior to the indigenisation of land, tobacco was exclusively grown by some 1 547 white settler-colonial farmers. But after indigenisation, a combination of over 60 000 communal farmers, A1 new farmers, new A2 farmers and small scale commercial farmers produced about 144,5 million kilogrammes of tobacco generating US$527 million.
The other development by Zanu-PF has been to successfully defend the country’s sovereignty in the face of determined and well documented machinations of the West that have sought illegal regime change in the country over the last decade, the party says.
The revolutionary party adds that it signed the Global Political Agreement with the goals of the people in mind.
“Looking back, it is now very clear from any and every informed perspective that Zanu-PF’s signing of the GPA on 15 September, 2008 with the two MDC formations was a stroke of genius by the party’s President and First Secretary Cde Robert Mugabe.
“That stroke of genius, which is a hallmark of President Mugabe’s iconic leadership, stands today as a major achievement of Zanu-PF,” says the party.
The manifesto cites GPA negotiations as a strategy that foiled attempts by Britain, United States and their allies to put the country under United Nations sanctions to aid their illegal regime change machinations.
The signing of the GPA, the party adds, contributed immensely to Zanu-PF’s commitment to promote peace, unity, non-violence, tolerance and stability that was necessary in the country due to volatile political tensions of the time. The revolutionary party says the inclusive Government enabled Zanu-PF to prove its leadership qualities, political maturity and governance experience while exposing the MDC formations.
“On 29 January, 2009, Zanu-PF introduced the multi-currency system to protect the people from the runaway hyperinflation that had become uncontrollable and the effects of the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar that had been precipitated by the runaway hyperinflation which had become a potent tool for illegal regime change.
“While Zanu-PF is clear that the collapse of the Zim dollar was a shameful development not worthy of celebration, its strategic replacement with the United States dollar as the leading legal tender to serve Zimbabwe in a basket of multi-currencies is in effect poetic justice given that the same US dollar had been used to kill the Zimdollar by merchants of regime-change in their vain hope of killing Zimbabwe,” said the revolutionary party.
Zanu-PF said it would at an appropriate time work out the necessary fiscal and monetary modalities and time-frame for bringing back the Zimbabwean dollar to function along with the multi-currency.
This will be done on condition that the economy would have “reasonably recovered and stabilised” after full and transparent consultations with key stakeholders in the economy and financial sector.
Re-introducing the local currency, the revolutionary party argues, would be done to enable the majority of the people who have been negatively affected by the liquidity pressures of the multi-currency system to fully participate in the national economy by doing their transactions in a normal way.
Zanu-PF boasts of maintaining the architecture of the country’s education system despite the challenges Zimbabwe faced over the last decade.
The party makes a comparison of the number of schools, teachers and enrolment since 1980 when the country gained independence.
The country, according to the manifesto, had an enrolment of 1 235 994 primary school kids in 1980 while 74 321 enrolled in secondary schools at independence. But in 2012, Zimbabwe had an enrolment of 3 019 397 primary school children while 936 734 enrolled for secondary education.
The revolutionary party adds that there was only one university in the country at independence with an enrolment of 2 000 students. But due to Zanu-PF policy on education, there are 12 State universities with over 69 000 students.
There were eight teacher’s colleges in 1980 with an enrolment of 4 900 now there are 14 with a combined enrolment of 17, 300.
Zanu-PF also says there were two polytechnics in 1980 with a combined enrolment of 3 000, but there are 13 now with an enrolment of 17 000.
Because of all these interventions, the revolutionary party says, has resulted in the country producing the highest literacy rate in Africa of 94,6 percent as confirmed by the United Nations Development Programme recently. Zanu-PF also says it has put in place a formidable healthcare infrastructure that has withstood challenges while mechanisms were in place to ensure massive revival.
“Zanu-PF has ensured the delivery of a new constitution which respected the views of the people on key constitutional fundamentals including rejecting homosexuality, entrenching the irreversibility of indigenised land, guaranteeing the recognition of the values and ideals of the liberation struggle, safeguarding the welfare of veterans of the liberation war, war collaborators, ex-detainees and ex-restrictees, enshrining the rights of women including balanced representation of men and women in public institutions at all levels, the right to education and to healthcare.
Also catered for are rights of children, elderly persons and those people leaving with disabilities, labour rights and recognising the status, role and institution of traditional leadership and authority,” said the party.
The revolutionary party says it promoted and defended the establishment of a professional and disciplined national security sector.
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