The Sunday Mail
The real-life fairytale of road construction workers who might have serendipitously stumbled on potentially huge lithium deposits while working on a stretch of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway recently reminded Bishop Lazi of the incredible story of one American lowlife — Oliver Martin — who used to do odd jobs around mining camps during the period of the famous gold rush in California, US, between 1848 and1855.
He was actually part of countless fortune-seekers who besieged California after rumours of a gold discovery in early 1848.
But, rather than take part in the back-breaking work of panning or digging for gold, he settled for providing menial and mundane work for gold diggers. He would usually drink himself silly with the little money he got.
On one evening in November 1854, when an inebriated Oliver and a colleague — John Fowler — were doddering their way home after one of their binge-drinking escapades, they got caught in a heavy downpour, which forced them to scamper to a nearby makeshift mining camp to put up for the night.
Our minerals were also going to undergird our development
In no time, the drunken duo fell into a deep sleep; the orchestra of their loud snores forming a discordant choral cacophony with the occasional roaring thunder.
After the parched earth had its fill, the water gradually built-up into a deluge that swept the makeshift shelter and its occupants into a stream.
By some inexplicable stroke of luck, Oliver managed to cling onto a tree branch until the flood had receded. To his horror, after searching for his friend, he found him dead. He had no option but to bury him.
Lo and behold, after digging to a depth of about two feet, he literally struck gold after discovering a gold nugget. And this was not just any gold nugget. They say it was the size of a bull’s head and weighed more than 36 kilogrammes.
It was eventually sold for more than US$22 700 at an auction, a tidy sum of money at the time.
While many of the fortune-seekers in California did not strike it rich, Oliver — a deadbeat — actually died a millionaire and philanthropist. And, because of this happenstance or sheer divine providence — whatever you might want to call it — he never touched alcohol again and became a sworn teetotaller.
As Hannah says in 1 Samuel 2: 6-9: “The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.
“The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them He has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.”
Indeed, the Lord humbles and exalts, and raises the poor from the dust.
Rapprochement with ZANU PF
While such a once-in-a-lifetime turn of fortune in the manner and scale it happened to Oliver could be extraordinarily rare, one is arguably more likely to fortuitously stumble on mineral riches in Zimbabwe than in any part of the world, just in the same way the local road construction workers recently did.
You see, Zimbabwe is fabulously rich.
In fact, it is nothing short of a geological scandal of nature to have so many minerals.
It could be diamonds, oil and gas, iron ore, lithium, gold, platinum, coal, uranium — you name it! Our minerals will be our salvation.
This is why in the last five years under President Mnangagwa our policies have pivoted on this key sector — and agriculture — to drive record exports and revenues that have helped oil the machinery of the State and sponsored an ambitious infrastructure development project unlike any other in recent memory.
All we have to do is to double down in order to reach our targeted generational ambition to create a modern, prosperous and highly industrialised country with high standards of living within the next seven years, notwithstanding the debilitating effect of sanctions, which tend to bog down progress.
We have to do it the hard way.
Some people were naïve to think that the August 23-24 elections would herald a new epoch of rapprochement with the West, which would have helped provide Zimbabwe with a huge lift through normalising relations with international finance institutions and easing the coercive measures or sanctions on Harare.
Well, bad news: For as long as Zimbabwe’s elections do not result in ZANU PF’s ouster, they will never be judged as free, fair, transparent and credible. Therefore, this year’s election, like many others before it, was always going to be labelled as “disputed”, especially with a recalcitrant opposition political customer such as CCC’s Nelson Chamisa, who, three days before the elections, had already declared that “any result that will put Mnangagwa ahead of Chamisa is a fake result”.
So, the elections were already disputed before they even begun. This, however, doesn’t mean the West doesn’t want rapprochement with ZANU PF.
It does, if not desperately so, because of its geopolitical ambitions to check China’s growing influence and relations with Africa.
In the West’s political calculus, casting doubt on ZANU PF’s legitimacy, ostensibly because of the purportedly disputed election, allows it to engage Harare from a position of strength.
With the animated chatter around Zimbabwe’s recent polls, you would think that elections in other jurisdictions are any different.
Well, they are not!
As Cyril Ramaphosa said on September 2, “elections are quite messy most of the time”.
Bristling contestation, he claimed, “often results in disputes” and “it happens all over the world”.
For some of us who closely follow elections, particularly in Africa, we cannot obviously ignore the drama and rancour that surrounded the Kenyan election last year, where four of the seven commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) — Juliana Cherera (vice chair), Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang’aya and Irene Masit — broke ranks and accused the chair, Wafula Chebukati, of cooking and massaging the results.
They resultantly disavowed the outcome and even argued that a re-run would help cure the brazen and egregious injustice.
There was also chaos at the National Tallying Centre on August 15 when supporters of the defeated Raila Odinga tried to disrupt the announcement of the results.They had to be ejected by security forces.
Not surprisingly, violent demonstrations followed in Kisumu and parts of Nairobi.
Even as Bishop writes this, the stand-off between William Ruto and Odinga still continues to this day. But it matters not for the West.
Bishop Lazarus told you before that Zimbabwe will always be held to an impossible standard.
It was also the same in Nigeria, where the courts upheld Bola Tinubu’s February 25 victory only recently (September 6).
The less said about the US’s 2020 election, the better.
Even as they prepare for elections next year, the fallout from the last election — where six people were killed on January 6 when they laid siege on the Capitol to disrupt certification of results — the fallout still continues.
Next year’s putative main challenger for the White House, Donald Trump, is facing a slew of charges arising from the disputed election.
As recent as September 5, one of Trump’s supporters, Henry Tarrio, was caged for 22 years for disrupting “a joint session of the US Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election”.
Just imagine if this witch-hunt was happening in our teapot-shaped Republic.
Inexorable march to prosperity
As Bishop Lazarus said earlier, our minerals will be our salvation.
They are the bootstraps that we will use to lift ourselves up.
The ill-will from the West will not stop Zimbabwe’s inexorable march to a prosperous future.
The train has already left the station.
Over the next six months, Zimbabwe will begin harvesting dividends from key mega projects in lithium and steel that have been in the pipeline over the past year, which will have a seismic impact on the economy.
Instructively, in August alone, the country’s exports vaulted to an impressive US$650 million, up from US$603 million in July.
Output from the lithium mine in Goromonzi is now finding its way to the market, while production at Bikita Minerals has markedly increased, thanks to the recently commissioned processing plant.
While Bikita Minerals used to generate US$25 million per annum, it now expects revenues of US$750 million after the investment by new mine owners. They even say revenues might jump to US$1 billion annually.
Incredible!
We haven’t even priced in incremental gains that will come from Goromonzi, Sabi Star Mine (Buhera) and Zulu Lithium Mine (Matabeleland North), all of which are beginning to feed world markets.
It is fair to say we will be among the sheiks of the new green revolution.
And not many quite fathom the impact that Manhize steel plant will have on the economy.
By year-end, it will begin to produce pig iron, while other steel products will progressively follow.
Just for a sense of perspective, Ziscosteel, which employed more than 5 000 workers directly and 50 000 indirectly, used to critically supply raw materials used to manufacture agricultural implements such hoes, ox-drawn ploughs, groundnut shellers and grinding mills by Zimplow.
Companies that refurbished railway locomotives (RESSCO) and manufactured bolts (Bolt Manufacturers) also benefited.
As a sign of things to come, last week, ZESA signed an off-taker agreement with Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco) for supply of steel products that will be used to manufacture electricity generation and distribution equipment, which it also intends to sell to the region.
Suffice it to say, the stars are now aligned.
If you are skeptical about the impact all these projects driven by ED will have on the economy, just take time to appreciate how Indonesia’s Jikowo Widodo has leveraged on nickel to develop the country through a massive infrastructure development programme.
Our minerals were always going to undergird our development.
Look up Zimbabwe, the future is bright.
Bishop out!
