The unflinching strides, a life of sacrifice continued.
–Heralding the success of the New Dispensation
Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa
“As President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, it is my desire to positively transform lives of our people, and thus have the country achieve the New Dispensation’s core values of building a new Zimbabwe, a country with a thriving and open economy, capable of creating opportunities for investors and employment.” This was President ED Mnangagwa’s solemn promise and commitment to the people of Zimbabwe as captured in his book ‘A life of Sacrifice.’
And thus began the unflinching strides to succeed in the goals to meet the objectives and achieve an upper middle income economy by 2030 for Zimbabwe. President Mnangagwa has been around the country many times during the past 4 years. Working on the philosophy of ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’ and ‘leaving no one and no place behind’ the Government has been pushing a developmental drive that has seen tremendous infrastructural drive.
From roads, airports, dams, schools, hospitals, ports of entry, mines and even new towns, the positive strides are there and visible. The Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) has seen the government throw itself into the rebuilding and redevelopment of the country’s road network including in opposition-held urban districts.
The domestic policy has been hinged on leaving no one and no place behind and the nyika inovakwa nevene vayo mantra earlier mentioned. This is ably supported by devolution, a program which was anchored by the appointments of Secretaries for Provincial Affairs to oversee the developments in provinces. This has seen a robust multi-pronged development in every district in Zimbabwe, with a project of note in most if not all of them.
Of the foreign affairs front, the policy has been friend to all and enemy to none. This is driven by the two pronged engagement and re-engagement. This has seen Zimbabwe for the first time having a consulate in The State of Israel, on its own a rare departure from the past position which was driven by Zimbabwe’s historical ties to the Palestinian State.
The new re-engagement policy thrust has also seen Zimbabwe make overtures to re-join the Commonwealth while taking President E.D Mnangagwa into new territories such as Belarus among other countries. The Belarusian leader President Alexander Lukashenko reciprocated with a three day visit to Harare.
On infrastructure development, from airports, roads and bridges under Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, has seen the Victoria Falls Airport, RG Mugabe International Airport, Buffalo Range, as well as Binga Airstrip being renovated and revived.
Road such as the artery to the south the Harare – Beitbridge road have been widened and redone using local resources. Other roads such as Harare-Chirundu has seen Government ink deals with contractors to start work on immediately.
Beitbridge Border Post was upgraded to a state of the art facility with state of the art facilities built to international standards. Housing for Immigration and Customs staff working at the border post was develops.
An airport is also planned for Beitbridge while plans are afoot for similar upgrades at Chirundu, Forbes and even Nyamapanda Border Posts.
Power and energy development has seen independent power producers given the nod to produce power and sell to the national distributor with one already producing. The construction of Units Number 7 and 8 at Hwange are almost complete, while the upgrades of Units 1 to 6 are planned as well.
The need for portable water in towns and cities, as well as water for irrigation in farms and rural communities has seen a relentless push to construct dams with one in every province under construction with some already completed.
The Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme has seen boreholes being drilled in all the 10 provinces including in the Metropolitan Provinces of Bulawayo and Harare. A permanent solution for Bulawayo and Hwange is on the cards with the Gwayi-Shangani Dam set to be the long term cure for perennial water shortages for Bulawayo and communities along the 250km pipeline.
It is trite to mention that the successes of the New Dispensation and President E.D Mnangagwa can not be condensed in an article or even a book for they have been many and still counting.
The unflinching strides have been evident and only the basest of individuals would seek to fault him.
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