Zimbabwe Finance Minister says “l sleep well at night because I see the stirrings of an economic recovery”

“We have all been damaged mentally by colonialism and we define ourselves in new terms.  We should try very hard to define ourselves in new language, in new terms.  Define ourselves as people who can do it,” he said. 

“The major problem that we confront among our people is, the damage of colonialism made them feel they are incapable, made them feel they are just workers, they have to look for employment, made them feel they cannot be employers.

“It is very catalystic.  If you (look)at children from the white community and children from the black community at same school.  At the school in primary, the white boy is now saying, I am going to be an employer, yet the black boy is saying, I am going to look for employment. 

“That is the mind shift that we have.  As people mourn, where is employment?  They never asked themselves, what employment am I creating for other people.  All they can think is where is the employment? 

“Who is going to give that employment to you and your community?  Who is going to create it?  Government cannot create employment.  What Government can do is to create a conducive environment for those who are creative, who are entrepreneurs to create jobs and make money for themselves.

“People should be asking us, coming to Government to say, please your environment is not conducive enough to do a, b, c and d.  We are quite happy and we will listen.

“The period we are going through in terms of the development of our economy is a transitional period.  Formal businesses collapsed.  I want to say that in 2000, there were two million people in formal employment. Over the years, because of the challenges that we have faced, we now have only half a million.  This means the rest of the people are now in the informal sector.”

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