Philemon Mutedzi
Zimbabwe has been a country that has grappled with the noose wound on it during both colonial and post-colonial times. The cruel colonial regime strangled black Zimbabweans, both politically and economically. The protracted liberation struggle ensured the stage was set for Zimbabwe to attain, firstly, political independence, and secondly, economic independence. The latter, however, is proving to be a tad difficult to attain given the octopian stranglehold that white monopoly capital has over third world resources.
The Fast-Track Land Reform Programme marked the start of the real economic emancipation of the black majority 20 years after independence in 1980. The New Dispensation has taken the mantle to progress the gains of the land reform by implementing the Smart Agriculture Programme (SAP) and Pfumvudza Concept for A2 and A1, read communal farmers, respectively, as one of the back-bones anchoring the National Development Strategy 1, itself a successor programme to the highly successful Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP).
Despite the presence of the debilitating illegal sanctions regime by the country’s erstwhile colonisers and their kith and kin, which continue to be renewed and morphing like a hydra, Zimbabwe is on the rise.
Further, inspite of the devastating effects of the novel Coronavirus, which like the proverbial hydra is mutating into multiple strains and decimating societies across the globe, Zimbabwe’s economy has remained resilient. Covid 19 has led to closure of borders and economies across the globe. Zimbabwe has not been spared in this quagmire.
The New Dispensation under the able leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has stabilised the ship, which had gone asunder under the captainship of the late former President, Robert Mugabe.
The heavens have opened up in the 2020/21 agricultural season, paving the way for the attainment of a bumper harvest. A well calculated mix of traditional farming methods in Pfumvudza and modern farming methods under the SAP has ensured that the country will reap enough food to feed the nation, and even export. The story of the success of Government’s interventions in the agriculture sector is yet to be told.
While the whole continent is still grappling with securing the Covid 19 vaccine, Zimbabwe is one of the very few countries which pride themselves as being the first to vaccinate their citizens. Being the smooth operator that he is, President Mnangagwa silently manouvred and secured the Sinopharm vaccine, which works even against the South African variant which is currently dominant in Zimbabwe. Further the Russian vaccine is enroute, and the future looks brighter for Zimbabwe.
Life will return to normal as the economy is buoyed by the lifting of lockdown restrictions as Zimbabwe attains herd immunity.
These twin successes will set the tone for the success of NDS 1, and ultimately the attainment of the Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030.
Zimbabwe indeed has turned a corner, despite the vicissitudes wrought by natural disasters and man-made ones, read sanctions, and defied all the odds, giving rise to the country’s new dawn.
