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“We urge our people not to sit and cry for help from outsiders. That help will not come. You should organise yourselves into co-operatives and pool together resources for the socio-economic development of one another,” said VP Nkomo.
“We are our own liberators. Our future is in our own hands. If the West decides to sever lines of credit to arm twist us into accepting dictates from them, let us create our own lines of credit. Let us organise ourselves and form savings and credit co-operatives that will provide working capital.
“Let us develop a culture of saving. For a nation that does not save would become a slave to nations that save”.
VP Nkomo reaffirmed the Government’s commitment towards achieving robust development in rural areas in a bid to empower ordinary Zimbabweans and curb rural to urban migration.
“It is a continuation of the Government’s efforts to alleviate poverty among our people in line with the Millennium Development Goals. It is inexcusable to advance one section of society economically while the other part of the population wallows in abject poverty,” said the Vice President.
“It is irresponsible to have part of the population having access to goods and services while the other part has to travel long distances using their meagre resources, in order to access basic goods and services. It is therefore our cherished goal to even the socio-economic imbalance between the urban and rural segments of the Zimbabwean population.
“We are one people, one nation and we should therefore have equal access to the resources offered by our national economy. This will not only even out the imbalance between the urban and rural population, but will stem the rural to urban migration as goods and services become more accessible at affordable prices to our rural folk,” he said.
VP Nkomo castigated the West for seeking to impose their own development models which have no resonance to Africa and often seek to manipulate developing economies.
He said the capitalism model was flawed, as the capital under this system was concentrated in the hands of a few.
VP Nkomo said the on-going global economic crisis was a manifestation of the flawed nature of capitalism.
“Today capitalism is in disarray. It is blatantly clear that capitalism is dying because of its underpinning pillars of callous self-interests and naked exploitation of the weaker by the stronger and of the poor by the rich. The world is now looking for a new dispensation, a new world order that negates the pillars of capitalism, where self interest and profits are not the major driving force behind business and human endeavours,” said VP Nkomo.
The Vice President said co-operatives were a new business model that takes into cognisance the social being of members and communities around them.
President Mugabe launched the First Choice Wholesalers in Mount Darwin in Mashonaland Central in April this year.
The business model has proved viable and very beneficial to the rural people.
The Gwanda wholesale is the third after the Mutoko Centre branch in Mashonaland East which opened its doors early this month.
The new business model is spearheaded by the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operatives Development, headed by Minister Sithembiso Nyoni.
Minister Nyoni and her Permanent Secretary Mrs Evelyn Ndlovu, Matabeleland South Governor, Angeline Masuku, Deputy President of the Senate Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Mechanisation Development, Mr Seiso Moyo, Deputy Public Service Minister Andrew Langa, Public Works Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Mr George Mlilo, Zanu-PF Politburo members, chiefs, Gwanda MPs and councillors and senior civil servants witnessed the launch.
Online Reporter