The Sunday Mail
THE self-imposed hiatus from writing is over. There is always so much to say and little time to say it.
Nick Mangwana
To be fair, whatever I needed to say I restricted myself to the micro blogging sites.
But there are serious matters that need to be said in expansive text, which require me to pick up my laptop and write. Again.
Dear reader, through the old time engagements here in these lines, my then contributions were among the many voices that pitched a pro-Zimbabwe narrative in the face of a brazen regime change and anti-land reform grandstanding reactionary periphery narrative.
Zimbabwe’s isolation was at its peak.
There was a lot of focus on governance issues and anti-corruption, as well as internal policy analyses.
However, yesterday’s “regime change” movement has degenerated into a formless thing that cannot exist beyond the tired “economic crisis” rhetoric.
I call it a “thing” because it lacks a constitution to be called a political party.
It lacks structures to be called an institution; it is vacant of ideals and ideas to be characterised as ideological.
And current happenings herald the August 23 annihilation.
Only then will Zimbabwe’s political scene be born anew.
In the meantime, the oldest political organisation in the country has regenerated through bringing about 85 percent new candidates.
Without attempting to strike out a Lazarus comeback, I should state that this time I am writing under different circumstances.
First, there has been a remarkable political culture transformation owing to the less polemic character of the Second Republic, under President Mnangagwa.
The pro-business ethos of the Second Republic is re-channelling statecraft towards true values of democracy, tolerance and inclusive nationhood.
This is why perceived charismatic cults of structureless and unconstituted wannabes are allowed to run their race to self-destruction.
Anyway, that is none of our business.
The people in far-flung areas such as Dotito and Chivi will prove my point.
Today, I write from a zone of personal ease, inspired by my principal President Mnangagwa’s much-heralded cause of “Leaving no one and no place behind”. Likewise, no idea must be left behind, even those that have criminally rendered our sovereignty vulnerable to illegal Western sanctions.
My writing now, at the heart of the nation’s Information and Publicity bureaucracy, is to align various inputs of political persuasions to building a lasting national consciousness that upholds and protects the idea of a united nation and aspirations of a people building their nation “brick by brick”.
Through this weekly engagement, I hope to point out the issues that matter most as we prepare for this year’s harmonised elections and beyond through policy expositions.
This will be your new factual campus to August 23 and beyond, considering we have only five weeks to go.
In the spirit of accountability, I will be sharing all sector-based policy issues to reflect Government’s commitment to serve all Zimbabweans.
A lot has changed.
Remarkable legislative, policy and infrastructural transformation has topped the legacy of President Mnangagwa.
One does not need to be his supporter to concede that every province has at least a minimum of 10 livelihood projects, either commissioned or launched by President Mnangagwa.
This goes against the massive haemorrhage that our economy has suffered under Western sanctions.
From social amenity rehabilitation activities up to national scale infrastructure development, Zimbabweans have been at the fore of their own development.
It has taken the wise policy architecture of President Mnangagwa for our nation to assert its development trajectory outside foreign aid.
All these projects, or at least the majority of them, have been exceptionally executed by local contractors.
Symbolically, this points to action-oriented self-determination, and not rhetoric.
Government’s accountability in the mining sector and other revenue flows has ensured we are in total control of the direction of the socio-economic growth trajectory.
The perennial beggar syndrome and old grumblings against closed lines of credit have been replaced by a new agency that is inward-looking.
The gospel according to the Second Republic is simple: Ilizwe lakhiwa, libuswe liphinde likhulekelwe ngabanikazi balo/Nyika inovakwa, igotongwa nekunatamirwa nevene vayo.
Under President Mnangagwa, we have learnt that hard work is one’s best prayer for their nation. And I do not know how many times you have heard the biblical curse that has been turned into a call to hard work: “Uchadya cheziya”, which means, “By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread”.
President Mnangagwa’ leadership style has taught us that sustainable nation-building is predicated on nation-building anchored in earnest commitment to attracting local and foreign investment.
The second principle for sovereign assertion is engagement and re-engagement.
By dint of this philosophy, we have been able to woo even those that have created foreign policies aimed at hurting our national interest.
The third, and perhaps the most cardinal strategy towards unification, is making sure that development is spread out to all corners of the nation.
For more than three times, massive national projects have been launched in Binga in less than 18 months.
The deep ends of our land now have access to national registration facilities, which used to be a preserve of metropolitan provinces, and a community radio station.
Binga can attest to that.
It stands as a symbol of transformation and the Second Republic’s communion with the people.
After five years of swaying the nation to unprecedented transformation and a fast-paced renaissance, Zimbabweans are being called upon by the Constitution to reckon. Therefore, August 23 will be a reminiscing moment for the genuinely introspective voter.
The clinics, roads, schools and buses are all there for the voter to see the magnitude of reform and transformation that Zimbabwe has experienced under the able leadership of President Mnangagwa.
This election is not about promises, nor is it a slogan-laden plebiscite.
This is an election where you are witnesses.
So many things have been done by a President who is a doer.
This, thus, will be a reform-selling and reform-oriented election, which marks a departure from the past tradition of promise-strained electioneering.
Those with promises have no place in this election. Their place is in the past.
The main contender, the only revolutionary organisation in Zimbabwe, has milestones to show, and not vacuous promises and uncosted wish lists.
Such will be the course of this election.
In fact, what is there to promise to a nation that is already self-stratifying to an upper middle-income status in the next seven years?
Someone is selling tangibles while others are selling ill-thought dreams and phantasmagoria.
The choice is a no-brainer.
Those thinking of engineering violence to discredit this election must be kept in check. We have turned a corner.
Last time, there was no violence before, no violence during but an orgy after the polls.
August 1, 2018 will remain a huge blot on our collective conscience given the fact that what we strived for as a nation and the democratic path we needed to pursue was side-tracked.
In this election, that cannot be allowed.
Let the reality shine through, with a smooth process and its deserving winners chart the course and define a progressive path.
So, it is a good time to be writing again.
Like what Benjamin Franklin said, “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing”.
I hope to do exactly that in the course of this feeble life.
Until next week, be well-informed.
Nick Mangwana is the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services
