By Dr Masimba Mavaza | The trip by His Excellency the president of Zimbabwe to Ivory Coast was a coherently knit masterly of a diplomatic masterstroke exuding authority, expertise and solomonic wisdom. This is… navigating the thorny political and economic terrain with the requisite panache and gravitas.
President Mnangagwa widened the gap between fiction and fact when he laid bare the true situation in Zimbabwe. In his rallying economic war cry “Zimbabwe is open for business,”President Mnangagwa tells Ivory Coast forum that the Gap between perception and reality has narrowed due to political and macroeconomic reforms, president says. Zimbabwe is open for business and investing in the country is not as risky as many think, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said at the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Thursday.
Zimbabwe has vast resources, so it is the government’s mission “to explain ourselves” and inform investors that Zimbabwe is a safe destination for investment. CDE Munangagwa has confounded his critics and increased Zimbabwe’s lion’s share of the economic benefits on the world and regional platforms. It is not a secret that President ED Mnangagwa commands great support both in the country and outside the country. The reengagement project has lifted Zimbabwe from the dust of sanctions to the dazzling heights of economic development. He is single handedly uniting the country with other international actors.
The President while in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire indicated that Zimbabwe has introduced radical economic reforms that are investor friendly, and offering incentives on investment. Zimbabwe, under cde MNANGAGWA and ZANU PF “has turned the corner in its re-engagement efforts with the international community leading to a marked change in perceptions on the global arena, thus attracting foreign direct investment. “
Before the new dispensation and the second Republic Zimbabwe attracted very little investment but more controversy.
President Mnangagwa was upright in noting that his Government was aware that capital is fearful, and, therefore, averse to volatility of any nature, hence the implementation of comprehensive reforms by his Government. Zimbabwe marches to progress pulling the whole world with it.
The calling point in economic development is to have no enemy and be a friend to all.
MNANGAGWA has turned ZANU PF’s fortunes for better even for the best. Before the new dispensation the party was some way from being able to command a unity of purpose so was the country. ZANU PF has articulated a vision of reengagement and has wooed the international world and investors into coming to Zimbabwe. Through ED MNANGAGWA Zimbabwe has managed to get over the intellectual defensiveness international blockade which has afflicted it for decades – and reach out to investors who were confused by the self destructive mode we as a nation had pressed.
“Through the Second Republic, things have changed drastically. Zimbabwe now has a policy; its foreign policy is to engage and re-engage. Under MNANGAGWA Zimbabwe is engaging with all nations of the international community under the slogan “ZIMBABWE IS A FRIEND TO ALL AND AN ENEMY TO NONE.”
While we bask in the prosperity of our reengagement success we have to fight an insurgent campaign within led by the opposition. in which the vultures deftly exploit their status as the underdogs yet they are killers within the country appears to have excited young people as well as so-called ‘left behind’ voters in ways not seen for decades. Where Zimbabwe exceed expectations is its ability to fashion a distinctive, eye-catching reengagement that captured the imagination of the investors and distanced the country from its potentially ‘toxic’ legacy of hogging the wrong limelight.
The president said “We realised that global capital can only go to economic predictions where they feel comfortable. So, we have instituted comprehensive economic reforms in the country in order to be competitive. And, I can assure you that we are receiving more investment now than even before sanctions.”
The ZANU PF culture has always been you and me we have a job to do. The president is already doing his job.
The President’s tactic is evidently appealing to many nations and indeed Zimbabwe has bounced back. The dynamic here is that ZImbabwe must project hope and togetherness because our programmes are not constrained by conventional electoral calculation; Zimbabwe is offering a different vision of society after decades of spending tax rises, and missed deficit reduction targets. The country now has a view on policy which articulates a combination of clarity and conviction. The president is offering an innovative politics of participation which is about doing things ‘with’ people rather than ‘to’ them, sweeping away anachronistic institutions and inherited privilege; as being carried forward this might has become the platform for a resurgence of the nation under a gifted able leader.
We must get over the intellectual defensiveness that has plagued the country since 2000 we need an open debate about policy. Making enemies as a country risks denuding the country of the capacity to think and revitalise itself. We must make the most audacious shift the centre ground of politics towards reengagement and towards the people.
Those nations who are bitter with each other must dismount from their high horses and pull for international unity.
The opposition sits and see the country being torn apart by ego. They are watering their ego with the waters of destruction. Because of their thinking or lack of it the opposition is destroying the very country we call ours.
Elections are not won by individuals but by all of us. Praise singing must stop and will never improve us. The nation is the people and the people are the Nation.
Zimbabwe is proud of the president and his effort to reengagement.
Zimbabwe is the only country we can call ours.