The Sunday Mail
We have said it before. Zimbabwe is on a roll and will surely achieve its dream of an upper middle-income economy sooner rather than later.
Editor’s Brief
Victoria Ruzvidzo
Those who have called this country the Switzerland of Africa are not far from witnessing the realisation of that dream.
In his weekly column in this paper last week, President Mnangagwa announced that Vision 2030 would now be achieved two years ahead of schedule by 2028 given the progress made to date and the renewed efforts that his Government has embarked upon after receiving a fresh mandate from the electorate.
There is no reason to doubt this given the fact that a number of targets have already been achieved well ahead of deadline.
For instance, mining and agriculture have outperformed themselves and are now setting new goals.
A $12 billion mining sector appeared a mirage a few years ago, but it has already happened while an $8 billion agriculture sector target by 2025 was achieved three years ahead of deadline.
Things can only get better and facts on the ground show that the economy is resilient enough to subdue current or future challenges in its quest to achieve Vision 2030 or is it now Vision 2028?
There is no reason for us not to rally behind the President.
Ultimately, when the vision has been achieved, every Zimbabwean will be a beneficiary and we will all be proud of such a feat. We can only give it currency.
The attainment of this national vision will certainly rank the country highly among its continental peers, hence, the President’s announcement that we are targeting to attain it two years ahead of schedule comes at an opportune time and calls on all of us to ensue this happens regardless of political affiliation as we are all Zimbabweans at the end of the day, politics aside.
He has described this current term as “decisive” in our quest for greater glory. It is a loaded word, one that must inspire us to do more.
He has put his case across and it is easy to discern that things are being lined up to ensure they are achieved.
“Vision 2030 straddles three political terms, the first of which began in 2018 and ended this year, just before our harmonised elections. We have just begun the second term, which ends two years shy of 2030, the year our Vision is scheduled to run its full, programmed course.
“This makes the current term decisive in actualising the broad goals of our Vision. My commitment is to ensure that our Vision is realised two years ahead of its due date.
“It is a pledge and hope arising from a hard-headed look at what, together, we have been able to accomplish in the last five years which have gone by. The progress has been both foundational and phenomenal, thus, justifying my optimism, and making the realisation of our Vision quite feasible.
“I know that with greater will and focus, we are able to quicken our development pace, thus, hastening the realisation of all our goals,” he said.
According to the World Bank, the world’s middle-income countries (MICs) are a diverse group by size, population and income level.
They are defined as lower middle-income economies — those with a GNI per capita of between US$1,036 and US$4,045; and upper middle-income economies — those with a GNI per capita of between US$4,046 and US$12,535 (2021).
Middle-income countries represent about a third of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and are major engines of global growth. This is the league that we will soon be a part of.
The recently constituted Cabinet must hit the ground running in ensuring they pick up from where the first Cabinet of the Second Republic left off.
They already lay the foundation so what is left is to pick up and go, in pursuit of increased development across all sectors of the country’s economy.
What is worth noting is that when they were sworn in by the President, they all sang in unison that they would get down to business and deliver for the people of Zimbabwe while also cementing that indeed President Mnangagwa made the right call by appointing them.
The permanent secretaries line-up announced on Friday should also be ready to spur growth.
These are men and women tasked to lead their respective ministries in contributing towards the development discourse. They do not need much time to apprise themselves with their portfolios. A number of them have been in these ministries or in Government already and they are alive to how the Government operates.
The generality of Zimbabweans also have a role to play in the attainment of an upper middle-income society by 2030. Let us get up and work for the Zimbabwe we want to see the Zimbabwe we yearn for. Strides continue to be made towards ensuring that it is realised. Complaining and murmuring will not take us anywhere, but if we unite towards the common good of the nation, then nothing can stop us. Together, we are a formidable force, something President Mnangagwa emphasises persistently.
All sectors across the country have been doing well, with some even surpassing targets as alluded to earlier. This is further evidence that Zimbabwe can truly achieve this feat by 2028.
We are expecting yet another bumper wheat harvest as we continue to consolidate our food security and this has saved us hundreds of millions of United States dollars as we are moving from being an importer of wheat to an exporter of the cereal.
Surely, there is no going back in the sector’s growth trajectory.
Sectors, including tourism and manufacturing, continue to grow, cementing the fact that the country’s goals and targets can be achieved ahead of schedule.
As Zimbabwe, let us maximise on our resources because we have the necessary skills and natural resources such as minerals and land.
Let us open our eyes because we truly have everything at our disposal to make Zimbabwe great again.
We are already getting closer to achieving our breadbasket status. Our nation recently started exporting grains to other countries. These are achievements that were viewed as highly improbable a few years ago.
The President also mentioned that rural transformation and industrialisation is a vital cog in the attainment of Vision 2030. This is very true as for years rural economies have been fringe players in the economy but they have an instrumental role to play in the country’s development agenda.
“A key test to genuine realisation of Vision 2030 will be our rural areas, where over 60 percent of our people live. Our rural communities measure the depth and breadth of lack of even development, and the cost of rural exclusion in development. Shunned by successive colonial governments, our rural areas are a sample of denied development, which gave rise to rural underdevelopment we inherited from colonialism.
“Except all this needs not remain so. We cannot continue to blame our colonial past for rural ills. It is as if we doubt our own agency as makers of an alternative history, which lifts our people and communities. Our nation must change course by taking responsibility over these rural backwaters which we now must challenge through a new model of development,” he said.
Furthermore, the diaspora community has been aiding meaningfully to the country’s development with remittances breaching the US$420 million mark during the first quarter of the year. This is very much appreciated. Nonetheless, the diaspora can still do more in terms of transferring skills and knowledge.
We are glad some initiatives have already started gaining ground in this respect.
There is so much to benefit from our diaspora in research and development, and other skills and knowledge transfer initiatives.
The reformulation of the Political Actors Dialogue comprising the parties that participated in the recent harmonised elections is another game changer. The collective involvement of this constituency in Zimbabwe’s quest for better life cannot be underestimated.
In God I Trust!
Twitter handle: @VictoriaRuzvid2; Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; WhatsApp number: 0772 129 972.
