The Zimbabwean dream cannot be stopped

Teddie Bepete
Only a few days earlier, the Zimbabwean dream had been threatened through the assassination attempt on the country’s top leaders.

During his recent address to Heads of State and Government gathered at the 31 ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania last month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa outlined what the new dispensation stands for and seeks to accomplish.

Under his stewardship, Zimbabwe is set to become a middle-income economy by 2030, a dream that clearly irks many detractors, which might help explain the horrific grenade attack at White City Stadium on June 23.

Before making his way to Mauritania, President Mnangagwa was on a two-day State visit to Tanzania at the invitation of President John Magufuli.

Tanzania is a very important development partner for Zimbabwe.

Apart from being East Africa’s second-biggest economy, the two countries share close historical ties.

Whilst addressing his Tanzanian counterpart, President Mnangagwa said about Zimbabwe’s cherished engagement with Dar es Salaam: “Tanzania is the midwife of our freedom.”

Tanzania, under Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, played a pivotal role in providing technical, moral and logistical support to the war effort against colonialism.

This time, President Mnangagwa was back in Dar es Salaam not as a guerilla, but as a Head of State keen to redirect the trajectory of his country along a progressive path.

The two countries undertook to pursue and strengthen cooperation in trade, investment and tourism.

Only a few days earlier, the Zimbabwean dream had been threatened through the assassination attempt on the country’s top leaders.

President Mnangagwa’s miraculous survival should be a lesson to his detractors that he is the anointed one, anointed not by earthly powers, but by the empyrean realm.

The peace that continues to exist notwithstanding the attempt on the President’s life also shows the kind of Statesman he is.

According to Gautama Buddha, “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”

The White City attack was a callous and satanic act, which deserves to be condemned by all.

But most notably, when President Mnangagwa touched down in Dar es Salaam, the heavens opened up and his counterpart was quick to note that his was good omen ahead of the harmonised elections in eight days time.

President Mnangagwa’s electoral victory has since been projected by two leading British intellectuals – Prof Stephen Chan and Prof Dianna Jeater.

According to Prof Chan, the MDC-T is a force plagued by recriminations since the death of its founding leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Instead of focusing on ways to build a new Zimbabwe, the opposition is busy forging make-believe alliances that are currently caught up in egocentric struggles.

And instead of selling their policies, the MDC-T factions are in the throes of a struggle for the party’s logos and symbols.

Whilst Zanu-PF has sheared off some of the liabilities that affected the party in the old administration and sought to deepen democracy, the MDC-T seems to have regressed from its supposed principles of democracy as manifested by the warring factions within its ranks.

President Mnangagwa recently indicated that some parties now seem to be unnerved by democracy.

He said: “Government has put in place all the necessary measures to ensure that our elections are free, fair and credible. I am aware of little political parties that are afraid of elections. They get frightened by democracy, but democracy has come to stay in this new dispensation. We allow people to have freedom of speech and we guarantee that this election shall be free, fair, transparent and credible, peaceful, non-violent.”

As Zanu-PF’s campaign juggernaut rolls on peacefully, the hare-brained opposition – obviously feeling the heat – has resorted to chimerical accusations against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in a bid to derail elections.

Mr Nelson Chamisa and company must realise that despite their jitters, the election is going to proceed peacefully and the Zimbabwean dream will never be stopped.

History tells us that our national dream can only be sustained by martyrs; those who were tried by death for the good of their land.

President Mnangagwa belongs to this caste of heroes, a leader groomed on the anvil of death, and whose formidable survival forte would make any non-believer believe in the authenticity of the new dispensation.