by Bruce Zvandasara
President Emmerson Mnangagwa's trip to the United Nations General Assembly 73rd Session has rekindled hope amongst the Zimbabweans as the country seeks to revive its ailing economy.
President Mnangagwa alongside his Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube and Reserve of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Panonetsa Mangudya have conducted many interviews since the day they touched down New York City in a bid to lure investors.
There was international media stampede as they scrambled to interview the Zimbabwean delegation to give them airtime to market Zimbabwe to the World. It was a refreshing moment seeing that it is coming hard on the heels of almost two decades of Zimbabwe being treated as an outcast.
A survey carried out by the Harare Post revealed that the interviews held by President Mnangagwa and his delegation impressed and revived a sense of belonging to the people of Zimbabwe. Hardliner critics on social media and luminaries could not hide their gratitude on the wake of interviews held by the Zimbabwean delegation.
On Twitter, a hardliner faceless critic of executives in every program they undertake; @matigary applauded President Mnangagwa's preparedness and well articulated interviews he had. He tweeted “I love all the interviews @edmnangagwa is having across different media networks in the United States. Let’s keep walking”.
The tweet received a brigade of positive comments where President Mnangagwa was equated to the Biblical Joshua who took the Israelites to the Promised Land. One Twitter handle @Mubvakure1had this to say; “I agree the delivery has been good and like I said a few months ago he is either naive or he will turn out to be one of Africa’s distinguished Statesman. The potential is there and he can easily write his own story hopefully a good one. So much still need to be done on uniting people”.
In an earlier interview with Bloomberg, President Mnangagwa had disclosed that Government would formally recognise the leader of the opposition in Parliament, in line with the Commonwealth parliamentary model and he/she would enjoy certain perks and benefits. Under the previous Robert Mugabe administration there was no formal recognition of the leader of the opposition.
This stance has also drawn positive feedback from Zimbabweans who feel this move will go a long in healing the political rift that currently characterise Zimbabwean politics.
Zimbabweans in the diaspora comprising of business community, professionals have vowed to support Zimbabwe and have a scheduled meeting with President Mnangagwa in which they will share ideas on how best they can develop the country which has been reeling in economic doldrums for long.