By Dorrothy Moyo| The new Zimbabwean government has promise that it will not tolerate violence in the upcoming 2018 elections.
This was announced by the new Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Major General Sibusiso Moyo as he revealed that there is now an investment pool for diasporans.
Dr Moyo said Zimbabwe has adopted zero tolerance to violence as it approaches the 2018 elections.
“I shall ensure that the full potential of all our nationals abroad (Diasporans) shall be marshalled … to encourage their full participation in economic activities and their consular needs are fully attended to. Their investment back home will be facilitated,” said Moyo yesterday.
He also said the country will seek re-engagement with other countries, particularly the West.
Dr Sibusiso Moyo told ambassadors gathered in Harare yesterday, government will seek new frontiers of cooperation beyond friendly countries in Eastern Europe, South Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“I have already begun serious and focused dialogue with key constituent countries of the West amongst them, our erstwhile coloniser, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany and others with the objective of normalising our relations,” he said.
“We seek an honest, respectful and forthright dialogue that will let go the past and explore and pursue mutually beneficial economic opportunities. We must respect one another and not lecture one another,” he added.
Dr Moyo hailed countries like China, Russia, India, Iran, Cuba, Malaysia, Pakistan and Brazil that always stood by Zimbabwe in the face of vilification by its detractors.
“We greatly value the strong bonds of friendship and the political and economic support we have continued to receive from our dependable allies, who have stood resolutely with us during our greatest times of need. We shall endeavour to deepen and consolidate these vital relations,” he said.
Dr Moyo said the new Government was determined to make Zimbabwe an attractive destination for foreign direct investment through a deliberate economic bias in implementation of its foreign policy.
“The economic diplomacy we seek to pursue will ride on the success and accomplishments of the past, re-alignments in other areas and a complete departure from frustrations and failures of the past,” he said.
He said he intended to facilitate economic development and industrial revival, while milestones achieved in the agricultural sector should be consolidated.
“Command Agriculture will achieve the unlocking of the tremendous wealth that lies in our soil,” he said.
Dr Moyo reiterated that the Government would continue to partner foreign investors in the win-win exploitation of the country’s mineral wealth.
“We believe the recent adjustments to the indigenisation and economic empowerment law levels the field and removes any lingering impediments from the past,” he said. “Only in the diamond and platinum sectors will the 51/49 percent rule apply.”
On the manufacturing sector, Dr Moyo said urgent refurbishment and re-capitalisation was needed and invited foreign investors to grab the opportunity to do business in the country. Tourism and services sectors were also open to foreign investment, he said.
“All these economic activities should, as a must, create jobs, jobs and more jobs for our people, so that they share and enjoy the fruits of the country’s economy and prosper. No longer will we be satisfied with being a country of potential, that potential must be urgently exploited to improve the welfare of our people at the soonest,” he said.
Dr Moyo allayed fears on property rights, saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa had already assured the international community that his Government would respect such rights for ease of doing business.
“We value your participation in the country’s economy and as the President has reassured you, we shall ensure the sanctity and security of your investment and shall honour to the letter all agreements we enter into with you, including BIPPAS,” he said.
“The right of property shall be respected. We look forward to your invaluable support for our debt clearance plan and in particular the 2015 Lima process. We are confident that with your goodwill, we can revive the process.”
Dr Moyo urged the diplomats to work together with Zimbabwe to build and not to destroy friendships and relations. He said he was ready to embark on a diplomatic offensive for bilateral engagements with other countries any time soon.
“For burning bilateral issues specific to your countries and national interests, I am available for urgent meetings,” he said. “I am envisaging a diplomatic in-loco tour of all our geo-political regions.”
Dr Moyo requested the diplomats to begin making the requisite preparations with their capitals, in liaison with his officials. He apprised the ambassadors that the 2018 harmonised elections were around the corner and urged them not to become “referees and players” in the plebiscite. Dr Moyo implored the ambassadors to remain steadfast in their roles of impartial observers, as pronounced by President Mnangagwa during his inauguration.
“Some international observers may be invited at the discretion of the Government of the day,” he said. “As with the previous elections, the Government has always guaranteed a peaceful environment, before, during and after elections.”
Dr Moyo said Zimbabwe adopted zero tolerance to violence as it approaches the 2018 elections.
10 Replies to “No Violence In Zimbabwe’s Elections 2018, Govt Promises”
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I feel like calling all who commented here my people. You are great. Let us never be hoowinked by these un repented liars and murderers. Peace to them is when we vote for them. We want reforms including the de politicisation of the army a clear democratisation of the electoral process accessible to any one. Moyo is just politically jumping un and down like a grasshopper.
Smell the coffee moyo
How wil wel support you seriously when you say all this ,we are looking forward to seeing you behaving better than the previous administration. You had won hearts and minds of some young generation but this generation is well educated they believe in truth
Iiiii these ambassadors are not fools ,it was wise to completely review the speech and verify facts of the past. Elections have never been free and fair except for the 1980 ones. Don’t take these ambassadors for fools let’s engage them in honest terms. If you mix lies and truth in a speech the whole speech will be taken as false promises.
yes, engagement is the way to go Dr. Ko yekuti vakomana vachidzokera havo kumabarrack.anambuya vovhota muquee imwe nemasoja eer.
Moyo shut up and enjoy your new position not kungoukura zvenhando whilst your soldiers are beating up civilians now ko tikazosvika election time munenege maponda vangani. I am one of the people who was beaten by your soldiers for no reason.
As with the previous elections, the Government has always guaranteed a peaceful environment, before, during and after elections.”
This shows that this new ZANU PF govt still believes all elections have been held peacefully. Is it peace when those that have different views are killed, maimed or disappears forever. . We want diaspora vote not that investment rubbish whilst we are not allowed to vote. This was just a change of names and faces but critical policies remain the same. Junta coup since 2000.
DON’T PROMISE WHAT YOU WON’T DELIVER OTHERWISE YOU’LL LOOK LIKE A MONKEY. ( with all respect to monkeys)!
“Some international observers may be invited at the discretion of the Government of the day,” said Foreign Affairs Minister, Moyo. “As with the previous elections, the Government has always guaranteed a peaceful environment, before, during and after elections.”
There is not even one person out there with half a brain and familiar with Zimbabwe who does not know of the country’s caustic political culture of vote rigging and wanton violence. All these people therefore know that Minister Moyo, is lying when he said Zanu PF has “always guaranteed a peaceful electoral environment before, during and after elections”. Not even SADC and the AU, known for accepting so dodgy election processes, would accept the results Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections as legitimate because of the blatant vote rigging and wanton violence the people had been subjected to that year. Where was the government’s guarantee of peaceful elections then?
There was a lot less in-your-face violence in the 2013 elections – the more subtle type such as villagers being denying food aid or being threatened with a repeat of the 2008 wanton violence should Zanu PF lose, remained. That year, Zanu PF had devised many vote rigging schemes such as tempering with the voters’ roll to deny opposition supporters the vote whilst allowing its supporters the opportunity to cast multiple votes. So Minister Moyo is being clever in guaranteeing “peaceful elections” whilst being very carefully not to ever guarantee “free, fair and credible elections”.
Zanu PF will deliver free, fair and credible elections next year, not without implementing the democratic reforms first. The regime has stubbornly refused to implement the reforms since the rigged July 2013 elections.
The right to free election is not just a fundamental human rights but it is also the pre-requisite for good governance and economic recovery. With the national economy now in total meltdown and unemployment a nauseating 90%, the need for free elections and economic recovery is now a matter of life and death.
Minister Moyo, you can play at words all you wish but you and your reinstituted coup regime will never get away with another rigged election! We, the people of Zimbabwe, demand free, fair and credible elections and will never settle for anything else! NEVER! Read my lips, NEVER EVER!
Talk is cheap. Totenda dzanwa mombe dzaswera nebenzi. Time will tell if indeed the new ED administration has broken with past self-destructive tendencies. We all want a new chapter for Zimbabwe.