recover, a people to serve’

True to the word of our earthly seers, we have been blessed with abundant rains this year.

For the farmer, no sound is quite as soothing as the rhythmic pitter patter of raindrops and no smell is quite as sweet as that of the rain-soaked earth.

In it lies the promise of full granaries and tummies, healthy incomes and the general wellbeing of the State, among many other glad tidings.

So, this year might be good after all, especially after last year’s El Niño weather phenomenon, which resulted in the worst drought in over four decades.

The dry weather conditions saw staple maize production plummeting by 72 percent during the 2023/2024 season, necessitating the importation of approximately 1,4 million tonnes of grain to meet domestic demand.

Notwithstanding the drought and concomitant below-average agricultural output, our economy, which is one of the fastest growing in the region, still managed to grow by 2 percent last year.

And, despite the vicissitudes of extreme weather events over the past seven years, economic output, under the stewardship of President ED, has been growing at an impressive rate.

In 2023, for instance, it rose by 5,3 percent, while this year it is projected to jump by 6,2 percent, before slowing to 4,8 percent in 2026, which, however, will be more than the regional average.

In all likelihood, therefore, the good rains during the current cropping season will give the much-expected tailwinds and impetus to an economy that is already on a growth trajectory.

They mean relatively more water in Kariba to generate electricity needed to power our homes and industry.

They mean more food and feedstock for homes and industry, respectively.

They mean pastures for our animals and livestock.

They also mean more income for farmers, which often boosts aggregate demand in the economy.

All these are critical ingredients needed to shape and actualise our ambitious vision to create a modern, prosperous and highly industrialised country, where people enjoy high standards of living.

This, folks, is the be-all and end-all of our revolution.

We need not lose sight of this lofty and abiding goal.

Deuteronomy 28 verse 12 reminds us: “The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.”

Rancorous lunatic fringe

But of late the rancorous lunatic fringe had found a way of distracting the ruling party from its ultimate goal by obsessing over the succession issue.

Over the past couple of months, a visitor from planet Mars or from outer space would have been convinced that Zimbabwe was in the throes of rancorous political contestation, what with the hyperpolitical stories that dominated our media spaces.

But how can this be when we had our elections just recently — in 2023 — and when the next polls are slated for 2028, which is four long years away?

Preposterous!

Chaos, division and disharmony would have had the potential to becalm the economy — if not retard economic growth altogether.

Thankfully, wisdom and common sense prevailed.

“We are currently preoccupied with nation-building and development. We are currently preoccupied with ensuring income-generating projects for households, as well as improving the standard of living for communities, so this is what we should be concentrating on.

“The enemy wants to distract us from these goals and be trapped in perpetual election mode and rancour, as if we are going for an election, when elections are four years away,” Munyaradzi Machacha reminded fellow comrades at a recent inter-district meeting in Mashonaland Central province.

“As leaders, we should ensure that we focus on matters that matter . . . projects that bring money to war veterans and the youth. This is what we are supposed to be doing . . .”

Amen!

Compass to prosperity

We dare not squander our generational duty to build our motherland, lest posterity would spit on our graves, or do worse, for bequeathing to them a dysfunctional country.

Bishop Lazarus believes that whenever we feel lost in our journey to the Promised Land, we necessarily need to refer to ED’s inauguration speech on November 24, 2017, which is essentially our compass to prosperity.

“The task at hand is that of rebuilding our great country.

“It principally lies with none but ourselves to do so.

“I implore you all to declare that never again, never again should the circumstances that have put Zimbabwe in an insufferable position be allowed to recur or overshadow this process,” he told the nation then.

“We dare not squander the moment. Whatever we do or choose not to do must be intended to benefit all our people. Above all, we must always remember and realise that we hold and run this country in trust.

“It belongs to future generations, whose possibilities must never be foreclosed or mortgaged as a result of decisions of expediency.

“The values of unity and peace cherished by all Zimbabweans are the enduring foundations for the desired goal of development. It’s the third pillar of the trinity, unity, peace and development espoused by my party ZANU PF.”

We need to reflect again on these wise words. As ED also reiterated, “we have an economy to recover and a people to serve.”

For a country whose economy had been run aground prior to the advent of the Second Republic, we need to double down on implementing the policies and programmes that have taken our economy thus far.

We are still decades behind our peers in terms of development and light years behind countries in the developed world.

The foundations for sustainable economic growth have already been set through the scrupulous implementation of both the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (October 2018-December 2020) and its successor, the National Development Strategy 1, which ends in December this year.

A lot has been done — in terms of infrastructure development, growing the agriculture sector and luring investment, for example — but a lot more still needs to be done.

This is what needs to be exercising the minds of our fellow comrades — how we leapfrog, catch up and possibly overtake our peers.

That we have made ourselves one of the two countries, including Ethiopia, that are now wheat self-sufficient on the continent should provide enough motivation and inspiration of our inherent capabilities.

Science and technology the answer

ED, just as Deng Xiaoping did during his reign in China from 1978 to 1989, continues to emphasise the need to leverage science and technology to leapfrog our development.

It is this emphasis that allowed the Asian giant to achieve much greater innovation capabilities in its universities and domestic companies.

While it lags behind its rivals such as the United States in fields such as robotics, biopharmaceuticals, chemicals and artificial intelligence (AI), China, whose ambitions are largely driven by significant economies of scale and a government laser-focused on global best-in-class science and technology policy for competitiveness, now leads or is on par with global leaders in commercial nuclear power and electric vehicles and batteries.

It has also emerged as a globally competitive producer of technologically complex goods, such as telecommunications equipment, machine tools, computers, solar panels, high-speed rail, ships, satellites, drones, heavy equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Huge strides have similarly been made in emerging industries such as robotics, AI, quantum computing and biotechnology.

As a country, we have since planted seeds for a revolution in the field of science and technology, be it through our space ambitions, which will see us launch additional satellites into orbit soon; be it through innovation hubs that are incubating innovative ideas; as well as through linkages between industry and institutions of higher learning.

Experts have long observed that low- and middle-income countries are generally not innovators, and they compete either in more routine, older industries such as textiles, commodity metal products, low-end electronics, assembly of goods or in advanced industries by copying and being a generation or two behind the leaders and competing on lower-cost labour.

ED has shown us the way.

All that is now needed is for all of us to put shoulder to the wheel and assiduously work to realise the Zimbabwe we want.

And once again, as ED said in his 2017 speech, never again should our domestic politics “become poisoned and rancorous and polarising”.

We don’t need side shows.

We need to work, work and work.

Bishop out!