‘In ED we’ve found the missing link’

26 Aug, 2018 - 00:08 0 Views
‘In ED we’ve found the missing link’

The Sunday Mail

Ambassador Christopher  Mutsvangwa
Last Friday, Chief Justice Luke Malaba as the head of the nine-member Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe ruled on endorsement of candidate Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa as the winner of the Presidential elections held on July 30, 2018.

This was in line with the announced decision of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chaired by Justice Priscilla Chigumba.

The ConCourt thus put paid a period of expectation and anxiety in the history of the young democracy that is Zimbabwe.

After all, an election process that was remarkable for its peace and openness had been marred by an anticipated sequel of violence that claimed six lives as State law and order agencies grappled with an unexpected spurt of politicized mayhem.

The election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa thus became the last and final political act in the saga of Operation Restore Legacy.

In November 2107, the whole of Zimbabwe crescended into a unanimous demand for the end of the 37 year rule of a nonagenarian Robert Mugabe who was hell bent on creating a family dynasty out of the revolutionary ethos of one of Africa’s bravest nation.

In a fit of curious paradox, Robert Mugabe had embraced the template of the rapacious and buccaneering arch-imperialist Cecil John Rhodes.

On the ashes of the disposed and defunct Rhodesia, Mugabe was hard at work to re-mould a new “Mugabesia” out of the young republic of Zimbabwe.

Mining the rich history of sacrifice, pain and suffering to defeat the Rhodesian cat’s paw of the foremost imperial British army modern times, the Zimbabwean populace was to have none of the nonsensical pretensions of an aged ruler, his clinical mad but power-craving wife and her retinue of blindly ambitious male cohorts.

Steeped in the deep traditions of statecraft since their youthful days, the Zimbabwean war veterans took an early lead in the challenge to G40 Mugabe’s wayward schemes.

They defied police brutality including water cannons and truncheons, hounding, purging and imprisonment of their leadership including an infamous and ominous State of the Union Address as they relentlessly called upon the population to resist the ever-creeping state capture.

Their efforts would attain a critical mass capacity when the Nation’s youths boldly and publicly mocked Dis-Grace Mugabe at a rally in Bulawayo.

Mugabe was then forced to openly and recklessly throw duplicitous caution to the wind as he came our four square on the side of his wife.

A tantrum was thrown by the nonagenarian who lost no time in openly menacing his long-tormented deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Thereafter fate took over, drawing in the much revered but now threatened national army as Mugabe sought to uproot the Chimurenga II ethos in favour of his Mugabesia petty project.

This brazen acts of a nascent terror campaign that saw the Vice President fleeing to exile would invite the intervention of the national army which has umbilical links with the war veterans and a seamless relationship with the population from the tradition of the guerrilla people’s war.

Thereafter the population responded to the call by the leadership of the war veterans demanding Mugabe to leave office, through a massive, orderly and peaceful demonstrations embraced by the churches and even the opposition.

The Mugabe clique rapidly lost regional and international support as the Parliament moved to impeach him forcing him to resign.

His exiled deputy would make a triumphant as the new leader who would finish his term until the new elections as per constitutional provisions.

The young democracy proved itself in holding elections which have been hailed as the most open, credible and freest in more than two decades.

The process further test in a judiciary challenge to the outcome by Nelson Chamisa, the loosing opposition candidate.

Again the Zimbabwe democracy withstood the legal test adding another feather to the cap of the young republic.

The inauguration of President Mnangagwa today is in every aspect an auspicious event baptizing the official birth of the Second Republic.

The national challenges are enormous all springing from a decrepit economy that was a victim of both commission and omission as Mugabe saliently and surreptitiously conjured his family dynasty of Mugabesia.

The economic indigence of a scorch earth policy was to be a prelude to re-colonisation on the basis of the neo-liberal doctrine of the failed state much touted and championed by neo-liberal Tony Blair and the wicked financial genius of George Soros.

The Zidera sanctions, the ostracisation through the Kimberly Diamond Certification Process, and other subterfuges stifling economic growth were an international onslaught to create a pariah state among nations.

Within national governance, administrative ignorance reigned supreme with the most incompetent being showered with public office.

Unbridled kleptocracy took centre-stage to stifle national economic endeavour and sap the energy of the hard-working populace.

Cabinet was converted into a weekly board meeting of a politico-criminal mafia that pursued avarice with no compunction whatsoever.

And Mugabe chaired this “loot committee” Cabinet while taking frequent trips to Singapore and the Vatican.

He was ostensibly going for eye disease medical checks or seeking the blessings of the Pope as a devout Catholic.

In reality, he was going to inspect his ever-bulging bank accounts as the proceeds of state capture were parcelled out in the accommodating foreign capitals.

In the meantime a modern country was rapidly receding to medieval poverty levels that saw typhoid, cholera and other waterborne diseases stalk its urban centres. The shape of President Mnangagwa’s new economy has been spelt out in the last seven months of his gestation.

Zimbabwe is open for business, we cannot be an economic island in a globalising international economy, we cannot persist with historical grudges the drive our national actors further apart, unity and peace are key to development, capital needs a rewarding business environment.

These mantras spell out a bold new future for Zimbabwe in its quest for “middle income” economic status.

President Mnangagwa calls for endeavours to leapfrog into a future of a better life, the much sought prosperity that was the battle-cry of the thousands of the youths who opted for the armed national liberation struggle of the 1960-70-80s.

All the desired goals are eminently achievable with a disciplined hard working population that boast the highest human resource index on the African continent.

The capacity to deliver on a modern economy is all there to see.

If Zimbabwe’s Diaspora is taken as a statistical sample, one can only smile with pride.

It is performing with remarkable distinction in all the host countries they have sought work as they fled Mugabeist depredations.

They are a clear indication that the statistical population, that is, Zimbabweans at home can equally deliver even better if there are similar propitious economic and business conditions obtaining at home.

We have engendered a hard currency-ready labour pool that can produce world class goods made in Zimbabwe and destined for the most discerning of the global marketplace.

With our deep and wide natural and mineral resource base, our diverse ecological regions and adding on a rewarding agro-climate, Zimbabwe is a crucible of imminent economic success that is already whetting the appetites of local and global entrepreneurs.

The missing link was appropriate leadership at national level. In President Mnangagwa, that leadership drought is final over.

Henceforth all that is needed is to fasten seatbelts and be part of the joyful ride to re-found national glory.

Ambassador Christopher Mustvangwa is Special Advisor to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail

 

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