Five things Africa (and Zimbabwe) has to do to be its own master- Mnangagwa

Fourth, the African Century is built on self-belief and belief in the resources and capacities of Africa. Already, Africa has expressed all this in her continental blueprints, foremost Agenda 63, and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Both blueprints aim for continental integration, predicated on African resources, on African agency, partnerships and trade.

Here in Zimbabwe, we have domesticated this continental thinking and aspiration through our mantra, Nyika inovakwa nekutongwa nevene vayo! We govern ourselves, eschewing anything that derogates from our full sovereignty; we build our own country, brick by brick, stone upon stone and step by step, with outsiders coming in to support, or to participate through skills, capital and technologies, in development options we will have freely chosen, and we will have set for ourselves.

We develop our country and continent on the strength of our resources. Africa has abundant resources; many of these resources are yet to be exploited. They should be exploited by us Africans, for the benefit of our continent and her posterity. We thus reject the notion of Africa as “a new frontier” for a second scramble by foreign interests.

Africa is its own frontier, and is ready to claim its century on the basis of its God-given resources. This is what Agenda 63 means and entails. It rests on a country-to-country, subregion-to-subregion African nexus; indeed, on the combined strength and ingenuity of Africa’s billion-plus population.

Fifth and last, Africa must free herself from external debt. Foreign debt threatens to mortagage its futures; indeed, Africa’s posterity. Last week, I was in Sharm el-Sheikh to resolve this very matter which continues to hamstring us and our options. The US$17 billion  in debt and bloated arrears must be resolved so our country moves forward unencumbered. We are determined to find resolution to this albatross which has been weighing us down. Above all, determined to pursue a development trajectory which is debt-free so we augment our sovereignty and options. We see tangible goodwill among creditors to carry us through. Alongside a raft of initiatives we have taken, and are set to take shortly, I foresee a stable and sustainably growing economy, anchored on her resources and a stable currency of her own.

The African Century beckons. Our generation must lay the foundation towards it, brick upon brick.

By President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the Sunday Mail

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