The Chronicle
THE year 2021 ended on a high note for Zimbabwe with greater prospects in the New Year which starts today.
The country is poised for another bumper harvest on the back of another recorded in the last agricultural season while various sectors of the economy recorded significant growth.
Government says this agricultural season, more than two million people are set to benefit from the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme which will guarantee food security.
Despite shocks and disruptions by the Covid-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe recorded a 7,8 percent growth in the economy.
In an effort to mitigate the population against the ravaging virus, the Government embarked on a massive vaccination exercise and acquired more than 12 million vaccines, enough to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.
The growth in the economy has attracted investors who want to pour their money in the country, a development inspired by President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra.
While previously, Zimbabwe reeled from annual budget deficits, the Second Republic turned around the country’s fortunes and recording budget surpluses.
The Government has used the surpluses to funding major construction projects including roads, bridges, housing, providing public transport and social security, including food aid and cash allowances to vulnerable groups.
Internationally, the Second Republic’s engagement and re-engagement drive has yielded results that has seen improved relations between Zimbabwe and the European Union.
The invitation of President Mnangagwa to the Cop26 in Glasgow, becoming the first Zimbabwean leader to visit the United Kingdom since the turn of the millennium, shows thawing relations with the United Kingdom.
The President took advantage of Cop26 to engage world leaders like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden.
“The pariah state tag has now given way to wholesome, all-round diplomatic and economic friendships,” Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa said on Wednesday.
The country also received overwhelming solidarity from the region, continent and abroad in calls for Western countries to lift illegal sanctions imposed on the country at the turn of the millennium.
On infrastructural development, the Government has given massive fiscal support to the Lake Gwayi-Shangani Project, a critical part of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, first mooted in 1912 but lacked support and political will until the coming in of the Second Republic.
The Lake Gwayi-Shangani and the pipeline project linking the lake to Bulawayo are expected to be completed this year in a development that would bring a lasting solution to Bulawayo’s perennial water challenges.
In line with his promise that no one will be left behind in Zimbabwe’s development trajectory, the President has made sure that projects that were left unfinished by the First Republic around the country are completed while new ones are also initiated like the multi-billion Manhize Steel Plant, set to become the biggest in the southern African region.
Other high impact projects were also commissioned across the country.
In keeping up with the promise to promote plurality in the country, Government licensed six commercial television stations and 21 community radio stations.
As the country enters into a New Year today, Zimbabweans are reminded of the importance of unity for the country to continue on the path of prosperity.
This is best captured in President Mnangagwa’s Unity Day address when he said:
“Whatever differences and contradictions we face, or are likely to face in the future, these should always find resolution through peaceful dialogue in the interest of peace and national unity. Nothing beats sitting down as one people to iron out any differences that exist or might arise.
“Peace in our nation remains the foremost prize for which no price is too big to pay, no cause or ego too big to bend. We are one, indivisible people, circumscribed by this our one nation, built on this the only geo-political space we can ever have as Zimbabweans.”
As a united front, Zimbabwe is poised to scale greater heights this year. Here is wishing you a Prosperous New Year! God Bless Zimbabwe!
Article Source: The Chronicle