by Prosperity Mzila

President Emmerson Mnangagwa went on an important five nation visit to Asia and Europe as he continues to engage and re-engage other nations to work with Zimbabwe.

 In his efforts, President Mnangagwa has so far managed to sign Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs) with Russia and Belarus in different sectors of the economy that include, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transport, education and health sector among others.

Because of the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe, the country has been crippled even in its efforts to pay its international debt due to foreign currency constraints.  That translates to say that Zimbabwe should re-engage other nations willing to support its efforts for economic revival strategies.  This calls for President Mnangagwa to continue in his diplomatic offensive, to sell Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities to potential investors. 

In Russia recently, President Vladimir Putin pledged to support Zimbabwe through a financial package meant to assist the country to settle and restructure its international debt as well as fund new projects. This comes when South Africa has pledged its support for Zimbabwe’s economic revival reforms.  South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni said that South Africa would also support Zimbabwe in its efforts to re-introduce the Zim-currency.

Russia and Zimbabwe proceeded to sign a host other MoUs in the mining, agriculture, infrastructure and education sectors.  Russia offered some scholarships of note in the field of medicine and other areas. An invitation to that effect has already been issued in the country’s media for interested students between the ages of 19 and 30 years to apply for the scholarship.

Belarus has also signed MoUs with Zimbabwe in the fields of agriculture, construction, mining, transport, health and education services.  President Lancasheko of Belarus has pledged to widen and deepen economic relations at the same time offering scholarships to Zimbabwean students.

President Mnangagwa is still to go to Kazakstan and to Switzerland where he will attend the economic forum in Davos, a platform that is fertile for Zimbabwe to market itself, to countries and individuals willing to bring their investment into Zimbabwe. President Manangagwa’s last visit to Davos yielded positive results that Zimbabwe is still benefiting from.

Furthermore, the President has so far managed to secure US$5.2 billion for the Batoka project, which project is already under way. Caros resources managed to invest US$4.1 billion towards Platinum mining in Selous, also the US$1.2billion for the expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and lastly the US$1.3 Hwange Thermal refurbishment for Units 7 and 8. So far of that US$1.3 billion, already US$200million has already been withdrawn and work is underway with more than 3 000 workers employed.

A corrective measure that President Mnangagwa made just before embarking on his trip to Asia-Euro was to make a bold decision to right the wrongs that were obtaining in this country’s economy, by announcing an increase in fuel prices.  His decision was a necessary measure to ensure Zimbabwe’s fuel supplies do not continue to be syphoned by neighbouring countries due to its cheap prices, a situation that disadvantaged the citizenry.  The fuel price adjustment aligned the country’s fuel prices with those obtaining in the region. 

It would be therefore unjustifiable for the people of Zimbabwe to lose patience and allow themselves to be used by regime change elements who are ready to hijack every situation and turn it into a terror. Zimbabwe had been subjected to a lot of corruption in the past 20 something years and uprooting the cancer is not an overnight event. It’s a process and it will take a bit of time to arrest the situation and get everything on track.  It is therefore necessary to note that there were people who benefited from the status quo of the past 20 something years who would resist any form of change.  It is those same individuals who would fight government efforts to realign Zimbabwe with acceptable economic policies.  The true people of Zimbabwe will give government a chance to prove itself and will offer themselves to proffer workable solutions and work together with government to rebuild the Zimbabwe we all want, of an upper middle income society by 2030.