5-Fifthly, do not take your eyes off the ball. I know this is a sport thing, but in business we have a saying, your first priority in business is to stay afloat. It’s not to make a profit, although that is important – just how to stay in business. Many do not understand that or appreciate it, every person who has been in business knows he has to meet the payroll at the end of the month. For you, Mr President you have to face re-election in 2023. If you fail, then you fail in everything. The one thing Mr Trump is going to understand is that on the 21st of this month, he is on the street, even the street kids will forget his name.
In your case every five years you have to persuade people to vote for you and allow you to govern their affairs for another term. In a Supermarket, the team has to win that battle every day because the competition is around the corner. That is why they pay attention to detail and to their customer’s needs, every day, every hour. Your task is not as onerous, but just as crucial. We have talked about this but I see no sign of these matters in your list of priorities that need your attention. If you granted those who have built hundreds of thousands of houses on land they do not have title to, title, it would cost virtually nothing, could be done in a year and would create wealth on a scale never seen before in our history. Wealth not in the hands of the elite, they are already too well provided for, but in the hands of millions of ordinary Zimbabwean families.
If through the unbundling of Fidelity Printers and Refineries you introduced a new gold production and marketing system that gave the small scale informal miners security of tenure and a decent price for their gold, you would raise the living standards of millions and put wealth in the form of assets into the hands of hundreds of thousands. You would deal with criminality and smuggling and solve our problems of servicing our national debt and servicing the needs of a growing economy.
Your new strategies in agriculture are bearing fruit, stick to your guns and see it through to the logical end. Do not allow selfish, self-seeking opportunists to derail your efforts and within two years we will be self-sufficient in food at lower prices and millions on the land will enjoy a new prosperity and self-sufficiency.
6-Sixthly, never lose sight of the small man or the small gesture. You are the most powerful figure in the country. I watched the magic of Mandela when he was President. Walking onto the Rugby field at Ellis Park in the Jersey of the South African Springbok Captain, was a brilliant move. I have a friend in Durban who is a wealthy man. He got a call from Mandela one day, asking him to sponsor a school in rural Natal. He did so and when the school was opened the President came to do it personally and invited this man to the event. There he brought him to the front of a crowd of thousands and thanked him. Then his wife was asked to hand out a small gift (provided by the President) to every child in the school. That man said to me if he was asked to do it again, he would not hesitate, it cost him R22 million.
7-Finally, Mr President, you are a lawyer and I know a very clever one. We need to see the law observed, in every way, in our national affairs. The rule of law and the Constitution is perhaps one of the most important features of good government. Our record is not good. Why do you allow the agencies under your control to use the law as a weapon rather than a system that protects and preserves value. These violations draw the attention of the world and overshadow everything else you are doing. If you personally intervened in these matters it would catch the attention of the world and your own people. Make sure in 2021 that your Chief Justice ensures that the Courts work for everyone.
Mr President, leadership makes the difference, in every sphere, schools, hospitals, business and politics. We can all make a difference, but no one more than yourself. As we enter a new year we pray for you and wish you every blessing and strength as you lead us into the future.
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