As the socio-political situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa Tuesday told citizens that his desire to reform the country and fix the economy remained unchanged.
He said his “new” dispensation came with a clear goal to improve the plight of people through an “elaborate agenda to reform, restructure and rebuild towards the achievement of vison 2030.”
The president in a televised address blamed dark forces, both inside the country and outside, whom he accused of tempering with Zimbabwe’s growth and thrived on dividing citizens.
He divorced himself form the old regime led by late Robert Mugabe, saying the “door to old manner of doing things is shut, the corrupt way is closed.”
He asked citizens to “defend” the country and not tear it apart by dividing its people, asking them to embrace calls for “patriotism, hard work, transparency, accountability, love, unity and peace.”
Mnangagwa’s sentiments come after Zimbabweans both local and abroad,started a social media campaign #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, to speak out against gross human rights violations targeted at ordinary citizens, activists, opposition and journalists.
The online movement attracted international attention with prominent people including global celebrities, artists/ musicians alike calling on Mnangagwa’s administration to end the atrocities and stop stifling democracy.
However, Mnangagwa said the goal of his administration to stabilise the country, bring peace, unity, development, progress and prosperity remains clear.
But the president claimed ever since his inauguration, he and his government have faced attacks, which included the divisive politics of the opposition, whom he branded “terrorists.”
He cited the “illegal economic sanctions, cyclones, droughts and more recently the deadly Covid-19 pandemic,” as factors that added to Zimbabwe’s economic aggressions.
Mnangagwa also alleged there was local currency manipulation by detractors who feared the “inevitable imminent success” of his reforms and wanted to undermine their projected economic growth and stability.
He said despite such, monetary and fiscal authorities continued to work tirelessly to “tame the economic turbulence” and also commended international financial partners who were providing their expertise.
“As a result we have had to constantly calibrate campus to ensure that we remain on course and that standard of life for majority becomes better and better.”
The president assured citizens that his administration would achieve its objective and overcome this attack by “dark forces”.
“Although our progress has been slowed down, rest assured, we will overcome attempts at destabilisation of our society by few rogue Zimbabweans acting in league with foreign detractors. The reforms such as opening up, liberalisation and modernisation, we began shall continue with a clearer pace,” he said.
Mnangagwa warned that those who attempted to divide people and weaken the country would be flushed out.
“We make no apologies for fixing our systems across the socio-economic and political spectrum. Accountability and transparency will continue to be enforced on every facet of society. These values are after all the DNA of the second republic and must permeate all our institutions,” he said, noting that his administration was working with the international community to “entrench democracy and rule of law within our jurisdictions.”
On that note, the president said his administration would strive to achieve the “delicate” balance between maintenance of peace and security and protecting civil liberties on the other.
However, he said the security forces would carry out their work with “appropriate astuteness,” claiming it was necessary to do and protect people “especially in light of Covid-19 and machinations by destructive terrorist opposition groupings.”
Mnangagwa claimed opportunities were being created across all economic sectors and the country’s development agenda was taking shape, where everyone was included in that through devolution reforms.
“Meanwhile, let us be consistent in all that we do through persistence and hard work. We will achieve a prosperous and sustainable future for all. Zimbabwe has to be back to working efficiently again,” said the president.
