Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address in full

In line with the National Human Settlements Policy, the implementation of the National Housing Delivery Programme is gathering momentum across the country. The regularisation programme for informal and irregular settlements remains high on the agenda.

My Government, through the National Social Security Authority, has developed a raft of measures aimed at improving the lives and strengthening social safety nets for targeted beneficiaries. This has seen NSSA setting up a revolving fund for income generating projects.

Government remains alive to the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Facilities under the Zimbabwe Women’s Micro-Finance Bank, Treasury and SMEDCO continue to capacitate women and create jobs across all sectors of the economy.

Government also notes with grave concern that some sections of our youth are under siege from the scourge of drug and substance abuse. This situation threatens the very core of our future as a country and cannot go unchecked. As such, the recently set up Inter-Ministerial Committee has been tasked with finding lasting solutions to reverse and end this disconcerting trend.  Our security services are equally seized with the matter.

The ongoing efforts to bring justice closer to communities are being accelerated. The commissioning last month, of the Chinhoyi One-Stop Court Complex, and the construction of the Gwanda Court Complex must thus be viewed as a show of commitment by the Second Republic to extend similar facilities to all provinces, countrywide.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces remains steadfast and delivering on their Constitutional mandate to defend our national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interest.

In addition to this primary responsibility, the Defence Forces are scaling up activities on the civil-military relations front. This has seen them joining hands with the country’s health sector in the fight against COVID-19 as well as helping in the mitigation of new threats, such as climate change induced national disasters.

The recognition and welfare of the brave men and women who sacrificed for the freedom and democracy we enjoy today is constitutionally guaranteed. 2021 thus witnessed the enactment of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act. The operationalisation of this Act has paved way for the establishment of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Board; the Heroes Dependants Assistance Board and the appointment of the War Victims Compensation Fund Commissioner. Measures are now in place to restructure assistance programmes to support economic projects run by our Veterans of the Liberation Struggle.

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