6 things Zimbabwe has to do to revive its economy- Mnangagwa

First, as with India, we must resolve to be self-reliant. That means accepting our full responsibility and burden to develop our country Zimbabwe.

We cannot rely on the global which is disintegrating, in any event. Hence the mantra: Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo. This requires unity and self-belief in ourselves; the grit, determination and commitment to creatively use our God-given resources in order to raise ourselves by our bootstraps. We should not self-hate or self-deride, both pastimes for the negative press. No humans from any other country, region, hemisphere, or being from another planet, will come to develop us. Or even come to defend us or our sovereignty when under attack; this is why we also say: Nyika Inotongwa Nevene Vayo.

Second, like India, we must acknowledge that “our supply system will be built with the swell of our soil, and the sweat of our labourers”. The farmer and the worker are the bedrock of the Zimbabwean economic miracle. Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy, which means foremost, our liquidity must go into our land! Both in our National Budget and with respect to portfolios of our financial institutions, our consolidated financial might must be felt on the land.

It makes us food-secure as a nation; it triggers several value chains which must set us off as an economy. Anything that prevents this goal must give way.

Like everything else, the Land is transformed through Labour. Mushandi ngaakudzwe, the worker must be rewarded and respected.

The paradox where workers cannot afford even the most basic goods produced by their own sweat, simply because of corporate profiteering, just has to be resolved once and for all. Our corporates are creating a situation where workers they employ cannot be vocal for the very local goods their sweat produces.

We are killing local demand, thus undermining local production, the development of local value chains, and the launch of local brands starting from local markets.

Brands are strong and trusted globally because they are strong, trusted and afforded locally!

Third, we must “Make in Zimbabwe” but do so efficiently and competitively so Zimbabweans can then be persuaded to Buy Zimbabwe, rather than elsewhere. This means moving away from reliance on antiquated production technologies so our production systems are technology-driven. “Make in Zimbabwe” means “Retool Zimbabwe” and “Digitalise Zimbabwe”. It also means “Re-skill Zimbabwe”. These must be the new slogans for our industries, which must outgrow antiquated, sunset technologies they have been running on. At their request, we introduced the foreign currency auction system so they could retool. That facility must not merely repair old technologies instead of bringing in new and efficient technologies. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce must get different subsectors to draw up retooling strategies, and to plan for efficient value chains.

As we move into the future, Government will be less and less supportive of operations running on franchised imports. These have been wasting our foreign currency reserves while undermining our Buy Zimbabwe goal. Those involved have had long enough to build capital from those imports; now is the time for them to venture into manufacturing.

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