Sundaymail Editor
Editor’s Brief-Victoria Ruzvidzo
”I am going to be bold about winning!”
What a bold and loaded statement.
These are the words expressed by South Arica’s Protea new limited overs captain Temba Bavuma in an interview with an SA Magazine recently.
The words caught m0y attention. In as much as he was talking about his new position in the team and how this was a major victory for black South Africans, I found them to be instructive to Zimbabweans, particularly in relation to our journey towards prosperity. We need to be bold about every gain we make and be forthright about our ambition to win. We surely need not be apologetic.
We need to be bold and intentional about our programmes and projects to achieve economic growth. We need to be bold about our dislike of retrogressive behaviour such as corruption and sheer laziness.
We need to be bold and deliberate about the Zimbabwe we want and how we are going to achieve it.
Being bold about winning means putting the best foot forward. It means amplifying every positive result and making noise about achievements made as we self-motivate. It implies doing the best that we can to achieve the most that we should.
It means coming up with a common vision, common purpose, and common goal that we must achieve collectively. Its means doing the best we can with the resources at our disposal no matter how meagre or plenteous.
Zimbabwe’s economic train is moving. It may not be at a supersonic speed as the underground trains of Europe yet but it is definitely not as slow as the Harare to Bulawayo passenger train that I once boarded in the early 2000s which took about 9 hours to get to Gweru. Definitely not at such a pace.
But the fact of the matter is that the train has left the station and is moving and gaining speed in the process. So much has happened in the economy over the past few months to warrant much excitement and optimism. We are obviously not oblivious to the challenges that confront us today and a myriad of wrongs that need to be corrected but we are also not blind to the gains made thus far. These are giving us the impetus to move on.
But the gist of my discussion today is that people should not allow the economic train to move without them. Everyone must occupy their seat and travel along. By-standers should not wait for the train to gather more speed and leave them behind in the process but should instead jump-in at the next station so we can all be together and make things happen.
Zimbabwe has immense potential and opportunities enough for all of us. Government is aligning the wheels and checking on the oil and water levels in the engine to ensure a safe journey but the onus is also on us to ensure the economic train does not derail.
So much has been achieved already through such interventions as the foreign currency auction system, infrastructure development that has seen roads dams and other infrastructure refurbished or built anew. A few days ago, President Mnangagwa commissioned the Muchekeranwa Dam at the border of Mashonaland East and Manicaland set to impact irrigation schemes and fisheries in the area while obliterating the water problem that has hunted Marondera town for a long time.
At the weekend he visited such companies as Archers, now operating as Paramount Clothing, Tregers and United Refineries in Bulawayo. These firms have increased production and are supplying the local marketing while also exporting their products.
These are just a few examples to illustrate the fact that the phoenix is rising again. As what Temba said, we need to be bod about winning and what better way to demonstrate this than the recording of milestones that this country continues to achieve.
The fact that at least 170 000 new jobs were created in the past three years, with at least 7 000 of them in the first quarter of this year.
Inflation figures are rapidly coming down, from a high of above 800 percent last July to 194 percent last month.
Other successes are being recorded as the train hurtles towards 2030, by which an upper middle income economy would have been achieved.
There is space for everyone apparently. However, it is sad that there are some naysayers wearing blinkers hence missing out on a lot of achievements and opportunities as things happen around them. Mining, agriculture, tourism and other sectors of the economy present a plethora of opportunities for both local and foreign investors.
Social media platforms present great opportunities and keep us up-to-date with developments globally, but these digital spaces have also proved quite lethal on the other hand as they manufacture too much negative energy that obliterates gains and choose to kindle the flame of doom and gloom.
Many use the twitter handles and Facebook pages to trash Government programmes and policies while attacking anyone who speaks positively about developments in this country. All they see is disaster.
Sometime we try to understand the scepticism given the background where a few years ago everything seemed to be turning into dust, with chaos reigning supreme on most fronts. But now it is a different ball game altogether. There is so much happening that should give us confidence that tomorrow is a brighter day while motivating us to work even harder.
Using our fingers to write poisonous articles about our country is retrogressive and something we should I reject and discard completely.
Of course constructive criticism is healthy. It keeps shareholders accountable while ensuring we adopt better strategies towards or goal but rubbishing our country as a populist stance or just for the sake of it is quite destructive. We can do better.
Let us make the most of the resources at our disposal. Let us support efforts being made by Government and other stakeholders. For instance we should play our part in fighting corruption so that all resources are channelled towards rebuilding the economy.
In an interview carried elsewhere in this paper, Prosecutor General Hodzi laments that some individuals and instances are standing in the way of their efforts to rid the country of corruption. This is detrimental to the health of this nation.
Furthermore, some companies and individuals should deists from tax evasion and pay due taxes so that treasury can fund critical developments such as building infrastructure. Non-compliance has obvious results.
We need to be bold in our desire to bring a better Zimbabwe. The train needs to move faster and in better shape. The onus is on us all to ensure everything is in order. We are all not just passengers on the train but drivers too. We determine the speed, the terrain and the quality of results. The ball is in our court.
In God I Trust!
◆ Twitter handle: @VictoriaRuzvid2; Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; WhatsApp number: 0772 129 992.
‘Being bold about winning means putting the best foot forward. It means amplifying every positive result and making noise about achievements made as we self-motivate. It implies doing the best that we can to achieve the most that we should.’
Online Reporter