Lexxy Chitagu
As the year 2022 comes to an end, it’s high time that we sit back and reflect on what a year it has been. The year was full of activities that included the fight against Covid 19,
elections, by-elections, completition of the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden and the ZANU PF elective congress, among other notable events. It is high time we take stock of President Mnangagwa’s achievements and applaud him for the good works he has done for our country this year.
President Mnangagwa, a revolutionary reformist identical in ability to the Chinese icon, Deng Xiaoping in achieving peoples goals through hard work and sound policies, has made remarkable achievements in the economic, social and political aspects since assuming the country’s Presidency in November 2017.
To start with, President Mnangagwa should be applauded for providing astute leadership and sound policies that helped curb the spread of the deadly Covid 19 disease. The President led from the front in urging people to get vaccinated against Covid 19 and gave directive that more vaccination centres be opened so that Zimbabweans could be vaccinated. The President availed funds for the purchase of the Covid 19 vaccination doses and also used his good relations with the Chinese government to acquire additional doses.
The President did not only intervene in the Covid 19 pandemic but he rolled out various empowerment programmes for the youths and the generality of Zimbabwe. In January this year, President Mnangagwa launched Provincial Integrated Youths Skills Development Centres (PIYSDC) for the county's 10 provinces where over 5 000 were trained and equipped with agriculture skills. During that launch, the President described agriculture as one of the major pillars of the country's economy and said his Government would continue to empower youths who constitute 62 percent of the total population.
In a bid to empower the youths, the President distributed nearly 700 heifers under the Presidential Heifer Pass-on Scheme as Government moves to empower the younger generation. The President further directed each provincial minister to identify a 500-hectare piece of land which would be dedicated to youth projects as part of the Government's policy to ensure youths participate in national programmes. So as the year comes to an end, the President should be applauded for making efforts to empower the youths and uplift them from poverty.
Furthermore, President Mnangagwa superintended over the completion of the gigantic New Parliament Building. For over forty years, our parliamentarians had to gather in a parliament building that had inadequate space, forcing some legislators to follow proceedings while standing. However, in November this year under the visionary leadership of President Mnangagwa, doors of the New Parliament were opened and the 2023 National Budget presentation was done in that magnificent building much to the pleasure of the legislators. Surely President Mnangagwa would go in history as the first Zimbabwean President to oversee the construction and completion of a magnificent parliament building in a bid to improve the welfare and parliamentary experience of the legislators.
Moreover, this year the President extended the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme to benefit over 3.5 million households in a bid to ensure food sufficiency and security in the country. The President directed the release of funds to the tune of ZWL20 billion to support the programme. President Mnangagwa as a loving father also gave a directive that peri urban farmers should also be beneficiaries of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme in line with his Government’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind in terms of development.
Furthermore, after realising that people were affected by COVID 19 pandemic to acquire national documents, the President launched the national mobile registration blitz to issue birth certificates and national identity (ID) documents to enable citizens to register to vote in the 2023 elections. The blitz took over five months and over 2 million citizens were issued with IDs and birth certificates during the blitz.
In August this year again, President Mnangagwa met with Matabeleland chiefs in Bulawayo over the emotive Gukurahundi issue and resolved to allow a victim-centred process and case by case exhumations and reburials, with traditional leaders taking a lead in their areas of jurisdiction. Unlike his predecessor who chose to call the era of Gukurahundi the moment of madness, President Mnangagwa this year made efforts to bring closure to the issue of Gukurahundi and he spearheaded the reconciliatory processes and made sure there was post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation. The President was doing all this in a bid to promote national healing, unity and cohesion in Zimbabwe.
Again, after the black market escalated beyond the reach of many people, the President introduced a battery of measures through his Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube. These economic interventions that included the introduction of gold coins, have seen not only the economy stabilising but recording growth, riding on marked investments in the mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
In a bid to ensure food security and to ensure Zimbabwe retains its bread basket of Africa status, President Mnangagwa increased the support given to local farmers for the 2022/23 farming season. This farming season, the President said that over three million farmers would benefit from the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, a considerable jump from the 1.8 million farmers who benefited in the previous farming season. Surely a President who works overtime to avert hunger and ensure household food sufficiency should be applauded and appreciated.
The truth is that President Mnangagwa has done considerably well this year as seen by the positive performance of the economy. The President’s achievements range from averting transport woes by introducing ZUPCO buses to the upgrade of the Beitbridge Boarder Post. The success is also seen in the opening of new companies and industries across the country. These industries include the Mwenezi Mapfura Industrial Park which is a processing and value-addition plant set up in response to calls by the Government for rural communities to benefit from locally available resources. The list of the President’s achievements and successes for this year can’t be exhausted. The least we can do as a country is to appreciate his efforts by voting him again in the forthcoming elections and ensure that the development trajectory is not interrupted.
