We must believe in ourselves to win the fight against sanctions Mnangagwa says

Our decision to reorganise ourselves internally in order to withstand more effectively those heinous sanctions has restored agency and given us initiative, thus helping us throw off the debilitating badge of victimhood and helplessness. A nation such as ours, with vast natural resources, and with an educated and hardworking, enterprising populace, can never be at the mercy of coercive measures meant to collapse our economy, and to force us to capitulate. Simply, acquiescing to external pressure is against our DNA, and goes against our heroic experience as a people who survived and successfully resisted colonialism for over a century.

To win this fight against illegal sanctions, we must fully believe in ourselves and in our capabilities as a people. That vital sense of self-belief, buttressed by national unity and solidarity from friends and allies, makes us invincible. From the early phase of our struggle for Independence, we now know that agitation alone, interspersed with periodic appeals delivered from rostrums of international forums like the United Nations, will not deliver on our quest for full sovereignty and self-determination. Our enemies need a lot more than sheer pleas and persuasion. They need to see us forging ahead in spite of their sanctions, to hear and respect us. We have to show real determination to beat those sanctions, and to prosper our people and nation under the adverse conditions they create. It is with that reckoning that we crafted our Vision and our development plans based primarily on internal resources and efforts.

From the days of our historic land reforms under the First Republic, we have constantly reminded ourselves that, Our Land is the Economy, and the Economy is our Land. The First Republic achieved the feat of delivering our land through Land Acquisition; the Second Republic is on the verge of fully translating that historic Land Acquisition into a new, indigenous-driven economy which durably delivers on food security, while yielding a diversified agricultural export base. As I write, Zimbabwe is now exporting berries and citrus fruits to many parts of the world, including to the People’s Republic of China on preferential but competitive terms. We are also poised to export wheat, making us the first-ever African country to do so. These developments, alongside national food security, which have been made possible through mechanisation and modernisation of our agriculture, are key milestones in our struggle against illegal sanctions. Above all, they fortify belief in ourselves and in our capacity to turn things around, however harsh and hostile sections of the outer world might be.

Our response to illegal sanctions should and must mobilise our vast mineral resources. I am happy that Zimbabwe is now on the global map as a mining country, including as a major source of strategic minerals such as lithium, platinum group of metals and countless precious minerals which are keenly sought after globally. We are thus reckoned as a key player in the global transition to a green, non-carbon economy. Those countries which have chosen to be hostile to us are increasingly realising that there is more to be gained through positive bilateral cooperation than through unmerited, unilateral hostility. That new realisation is weakening the broad Western front forged in the past to impose sanctions against us. We thank Sadc, Africa and the progressive world for taking up our case consistently, persistently, including yearly at the United Nations.

Continued next page

(73 VIEWS)