Online Reporter
COMMUNION with Bishop Lazarus
AS we have unfailingly done in the past 45 years, last week, we, as a nation, celebrated in remembrance of the covenant we have with the living and departed heroes who, for generations, fought to defend this sacred land we call Zimbabwe from invaders, reclaimed it from the colonisers and now protect it from imperial designs, which presently manifest as neo-colonialism.
Indeed, Zimbabwe, as Bishop Lazi always says ad infinitum, is sacred land, for under its soil courses rivers of blood of countless selfless warriors who gave up their lives to ensure that the country not only regains its freedom but also thrives and reclaims its status as a pre-eminent political and economic force in the region and beyond, just like the Munhumutapa Empire of old, whose trade routes reached as far as the Kilwa Sultanate in East Africa, Persia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, among others.
Our task is to revive these lucrative trade routes, just as the Chinese have done with the New Silk Road Initiative (Belt and Road Initiative). So, it is this blood that forms an inextricable link between successive generations of living and departed Zimbabweans.
It also reminds us of the unchanging generational goal to make Zimbabwe a great and flourishing State, whose people live happy and prosperous lives. The overarching aspiration of each and every Zimbabwean is to lead fulfilling lives.
Last week, and for the umpteenth time, the Bishop took the opportunity to remind you of the revolutionary Pan-African Amilcar Cabral’s observation that people fight “to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, (and) to guarantee the future of their children”.
Rising giant
Two-and-a-half decades after taking back their land — which was the main grievance of the liberation struggle — Zimbabweans are beginning to enjoy the sweet fruits of their heritage. The country can now not only feed itself but is also slowly regaining its capacity to once again supply the region.
With another bumper haul of wheat on the horizon, we could, sooner or later, tentatively begin to supply those in need.
Just as the case with wheat, we also now grow more tobacco than the white settlers and farmers ever did. In addition, by the end of the year, we might possibly be producing enough milk to meet local demand, as our herd continues to grow exponentially.
In horticulture, we are now the biggest producer of blueberries in Africa and the fastest growing in the world. All this shows that the painful and tumultuous transitionary period that followed the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme is well and truly behind us.
Our own black farmers have mastered the sweet science of agriculture and have become masters of the land — and their own destiny — as they have always been.
All productive indicators are showing that Zimbabwe is a giant that has awoken from its slumber and is slowly taking its pride of place in the world.
At a time when its peers are smarting from the fallout of volatile international markets owing to crazy economic policies from the United States, Zimbabwe is outperforming expectations.
In the first six months of the year, its exports topped a whopping US$7,25 billion, which is significantly more than the US$5,89 billion generated in the same period last year.
These are not mere numbers and statistics.
Zimbabwe’s growing affluence is much more evident in the consumption patterns all around us, particularly in the cash-oiled informal sector. Our roads are teeming with new cars, which seem to be endlessly on the move on the country’s roads, making it a nightmare to drive during peak hours.
Both urban and rural areas have literally become construction sites, with investments ranging from residential to commercial properties.
Eateries, too, are now big business, sprouting at every street corner to satisfy growing tastes.
So, you just have to look closer and pay more attention to these growing patterns and trends.
They are tell-tale signs of a country that is on the march and on the rise.
Renaissance
Isaiah 60:1-5 says: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.”
As Zimbabwe’s economic might grows, so, too, does it become bolder, assertive and adventurous on the international stage.
Through President ED’s crafty engagement and re-engagement drive, which emphasises on economic diplomacy, Zimbabwe has not only shaken off its pariah status but successfully reintegrated itself into the family of nations as a force to be reckoned with.
Today, after a highly successful one-year stint leading the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), ED will hand over the baton to his counterpart, Andry Rajoelina, of Madagascar.
He, however, hands over the reins after a consequential term that saw two regional economic communities — SADC and the East African Community (EAC) — convening a historic joint summit on February 8 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (the first time this has happened on the continent), which culminated in far-reaching decisions and declarations that finally put the long-running conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the path to durable peace.
Bold decisions had to be made — and were made.
As a novel twist to the peace process, the joint summit decided to rope in non-state actors, such as the M23 rebels, which were hitherto overlooked in the negotiations despite being central to the conflict. A panel of five facilitators — Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Kgalema Motlanthe (South Africa), Catherine Samba Panza (Central African Republic) and Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia) — have since been appointed to mediate and ensure lasting peace.
All the processes, including those being led by the US and Qatar, are now being consolidated under the continental body, the African Union.
This mammoth diplomatic undertaking gives a glimmer of hope that this seemingly intractable conflict will finally be resolved.
But this does not mean ED’s work is done.
His guidance will still be needed under SADC’s Troika system, which vests authority in the chairperson, incoming chairperson and outgoing chairperson of the bloc.
New horizons
Zimbabwe’s role in the region should, however, not be viewed in isolation, but as part of its diplomatic odyssey to both make a mark on the world stage and find new markets.
Its bid to rejoin the 56-member Commonwealth, which represents close to 2,7 billion people across the globe, might now be on the home stretch, especially ahead of CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in Antigua and Barbuda next year.
The envisaged membership could guarantee even more trade agreements, preferential tariffs, foreign direct investment from member states, as well as financial and technical assistance programmes. It could as well open up new opportunities for scholarships, exchange programmes, skills development initiatives and competition for our athletes.
Similarly, we recently applied to join the expanding BRICS+ bloc, a platform for political and diplomatic coordination for countries from the Global South.
Overall, what is perhaps the country’s biggest diplomatic quest yet will be the launch of Zimbabwe’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) in New York next month. Potential UNSC membership is not just symbolic — it offers tangible diplomatic, economic and strategic advantages.
By leveraging this platform, Zimbabwe can advance African interests, counter Western sanctions, attract investment and reshape its global standing. So, bagging it will be a huge political and economic bonanza.
What we are currently seeing unfolding before our eyes is Zimbabwe’s renaissance, which could not have been possible without the solid political and economic foundation that has been set by the Second Republic.
It, therefore, behooves all of us to be patriotic enough to realise the nation’s intergenerational aspiration — to build a strong and prosperous Zimbabwe in the mould of the Munhumutapa Empire of old.
Bishop Lazarus will leave you to reflect on part of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech in Paris on April 23, 1910.
“I believe that a man must be a good patriot before he can be, and as the only possible way of being, a good citizen of the world,” he remarked.
“Now, this does not mean in the least that a man should not wish to good outside of his native land.
“On the contrary, just as I think that the man who loves his family is more apt to be a good neighbour than the man who does not, so I think that the most useful member of the family of nations is normally a strongly patriotic nation.
“So far from patriotism being inconsistent with a proper regard for the rights of other nations, I hold that the true patriot, who is as jealous of the national honour as a gentleman of his own honour, will be careful to see that the nations neither inflicts nor suffers wrong, just as a gentleman scorns equally to wrong others or to suffer others to wrong him.”
This is fittingly instructive.
Bishop out!
