Zimbabwe has shaken off the unflattering tag of victimhood and helplessness in the face of illegal sanctions and through a cocktail of interventions has been able to develop itself economically through internal solutions.
In his weekly column in The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said the country should continue looking inwardly for its development, notwithstanding the baneful illegal sanctions that were imposed to make the economy implode.
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Book Now“Our industry, too, has a big role to play in the fight against sanctions,” he said.
“Merely by ramping up production, and by ensuring that more goods on our shelves are locally produced, our industry actually blunts those otherwise ruinous sanctions, while transforming the structure of our economy towards the tertiary.
“I am very happy that we continue to see more and more big industrial projects coming on stream, thus contributing towards the realisation of our Vision 2030, by which we envision Zimbabwe that is an upper middle-income society,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said as the Second Republic, they have adopted a new stance which plays out alongside the traditional broad-based agitation and resolute campaign against the illegal sanctions.
This is coupled with increased efforts to engage and exert diplomatic pressure on those who designed and unleashed those punitive measures on Zimbabwe.
“That way, we have been able to organise and mobilise ourselves internally, while still pursuing a dual policy of agitation, engagement and re-engagement.
“Engagement allows us to win to our side new friends and allies against those heinous sanctions; re-engagement enables us to continue dialoguing with those responsible for those sanctions which were visited on us unilaterally, and outside the norms and authority of the United Nations.
“Our decision to reorganise ourselves internally in order to withstand more effectively those heinous sanctions has restored agency and given us initiative, thus helping us throw off the debilitating badge of victimhood and helplessness,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said a nation such as Zimbabwe with vast natural resources, and with an educated and a hardworking enterprising populace can never be at the mercy of coercive measures meant to collapse the economy.
“Simply, acquiescing to external pressure is against our DNA, and goes against our heroic experience as a people who survived and successfully resisted colonialism for over a century,” he said.
“To win this fight against illegal sanctions, we must fully believe in ourselves and in our capabilities as a people. That vital sense of self-belief, buttressed by national unity and solidarity from friends and allies, makes us invincible.”
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said the biggest resource in the fight against illegal sanctions was the people of Zimbabwe.
“We must show faith in our people by giving them full space and support in pursuing their dreams and their creative urge. In the past two weeks, I had the pleasure to witness what our youngsters in tertiary colleges are capable of,” he said.
“At the HIT, I saw an exciting research project which will see us producing lithium batteries so key to the emerging global green economy. Similarly, at BUSE, I opened a project which will manufacture chemicals we need in purifying bulk water for our towns and cities.”
President Mnangagwa said both projects were highly impactful and will reduce, to an enormous degree, the propensity to import.
He said all Zimbabweans, including the diaspora community, had a special role to play in the building of a new nation.
“As we commemorate the SADC Anti-Sanctions Day, I want all Zimbabweans in the diaspora to know that they continue to have a huge role to play.
“They have been assisting in the battle against illegal sanctions through remittances, which now exceed US$1 billion,” he said.
“We appreciate them deeply. From my interaction with Zimbabwean professionals in the diaspora, I noted a positive desire not just to remit savings, but also to repatriate knowledge, skills, competences, expertise and experience garnered over the years in different parts of the world, where our nationals continue to play leading roles.”
President Mnangagwa added: “A Zimbabwe which recognises and welcomes back its sons and daughters, who until now have been living abroad, is a Zimbabwe less vulnerable to external coercive measures.”
The President directed all institutions to use the impending October 25 to reflect a little more and deeper on what else the Government could and must do to attract this key national human resource, which is keen to come back home and to contribute to development.
Herald
