By Bernard Bwoni
" Ideas build nations and ideas do not stem from negative mind sets.We have a great country, we own it and owe it to ourselves to preserve and protect it from the negative onslaught."
BEING negative is contagious and if not countered with
that productive mind-set it spans with no bounds. It is disabling and when it
festers the mind is unable to think beyond the paralysing enfold of the here
and now. It takes over and permanently replaces positivity with pessimism.
Under the gloomy cocoon of negativity, optimism and positivity are relegated to
distant memories. Zimbabwe the country and Zimbabweans her people have gone
through trying times of a magnitude unimaginable and, rightly so, the
pessimistic eclipse prevails.
It is difficult if not impossible, sometimes, to think
past pain and hunger. The freshness of the wounds inflicted by an economic
crisis induced by sanctions overshadows optimism which is indefinitely tucked
away under the misery, the sorrow, the commotion from the growling tummies and
the painful outcomes of all combined. It would be insensitive and inhuman to
judge those who went through the economic turmoil and casually prescribe
positivity and optimism without genuinely acknowledging the devastating
individual and collective experiences. The pessimism and negativity is an
understandable short term reaction but when it roots itself into a state
permanency then paralysis reigns.
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| Political failures are unwittingly demonising and destabilising their land of birth out of bitterness. It is a sad indictment of their mind-sets when they spend time scrawling the internet for negative stories of their motherland. |
The reality is that many in their questionable quest for
'democracy' have wittingly or unwittingly demonised and destabilised their land
of birth and some are being encouraged into pointless marches onto the street.
The false pessimism unashamedly camouflages the actual positives and prospects
silently shaping up Zimbabwe.
There are numerous positive developments taking
place in Zimbabwe right now but more often than not it is the doom, the gloom
and the disastrous that preoccupies the perennial party-poopers.
The recently concluded fiscally and ideologically
important trip to China by President Robert Mugabe has been dampened and
muffled by the constant choruses of doom. The signing of major investment deals
between Zimbabwe and Russia including a $3 billion platinum project have all
been negated and relegated to the periphery of economic relevance by the usual
naysayers.
ZimAsset is anchored on four main clusters of Food
Security and Nutrition, Value Addition and Beneficiation, Infrastructures and
Utilities, and Social Services and Poverty Eradication. There are some initial
signs of notable key indicators that things can potentially improve and a good
example is in the Food Security and Nutrition cluster where a recent report
indicated that the number of Zimbabweans requiring food aid is set to decline
from 2,2 million to 565,000 next year owing to a resurgent agricultural sector
which has seen maize production going over the 1.4 million metric tonnes which
is enough for national self-sufficiency; as such imports will be mainly for
stockpiling and reserves.
There was also another report that this coming season
Zimbabwe is also headed for another successful agricultural season with the
Presidential Well-Wishers Input Scheme for the 2014/15 season now set to cover
all food crops. The agriculture sector has also been on the rebound following
the contentious but necessary land reform programme.
Tobacco production levels
for 2014 are nearing the 236 million kilograms mark attained in the 1999/2000
season, a year before the land reform. Evolution and revolutions sometimes
happen silently and the clusters of the economic blueprint have been steadily
taking shape and silently taking off.
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| ZimAsset assigns responsibility of economic revival to Zimbabweans. |
The two clusters, Food Security & Nutrition and Value
Addition & Beneficiation are standing out. Over the past few months there
have been a number of notable key indicators that things would potentially turn
round the corner.
There is also tangible evidence on the ground in the country
which point to the Value Addition and Beneficiation cluster take off with a
number of critical pro-Value Addition initiatives taking place nationally. The
Diamond Processing Centre near Mount Hampden is nearing completion and these
are some of the anchors of the revolutionary economic blueprint.
The $3 billion Zimbabwe-Russia Platinum deal is important
in that there are, within the deal, provisions for the establishment of a
refinery once full negotiations are complete. There are already plans and
progress underway for another platinum refinery in Zimbabwe. This is a key
development in terms of the economic blueprint as, currently, Zimbabwe is
exporting raw platinum matte to be refined in South Africa which short-changes
the country of revenue from platinum group metals that come as by-products of
the refined matte.
With value addition, precious metals such as diamonds and
platinum will be processed and beneficiation will happen in Zimbabwe instead of
exporting the raw product where the country loses out significantly. Value
addition means our employment is not exported together with the raw matte but
rather more jobs domestically.
With the Infrastructures and Utilities Cluster there are
equally extensive and tangible initial signs of the intended outcomes of the
economic blueprint. President Mugabe recently commissioned the $533 million
Kariba Power project which will address the power challenges currently facing
the country. The $2.1 billion Gwayi Power Project with potential to generate
600MW is also in the pipeline and preliminary work in progress. There is
evidence on the ground of dualisation of the country's major highways with
Harare-Bulawayo at an advanced stage, the Harare-Beitbridge, Plumtree-Mutare,
the Harare-Mutare road and Airport road have taken shape, other road are taking
shape and many others projects.
The stock market in any country is a strong determinant
of the economy’s direction with a strong stock market pointing to earning
estimates that are on the up and thus indicating that the overall economy is
getting ready to grow. Similarly a down market may point to declining firm
earnings and major issues with the overall economy. Indices on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange (ZSE) have continued to increase with market capitalisation also
continuing to maintain growth since the beginning of 2014. The mining index has
continued with impressive performance from June 2014 to date. The manufacturing
index has not performed as impressively as the mining.
The country has remained receptive to positive engagement
with all development partners. Although the strength of formal or payroll
employment remains weak as an indicator there is an urgent need to harness the
strength of the informal sector employment. Zimbabwe has made inroads in
information and technology assimilation with a 100% mobile penetration
according to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz).
Zimbabwe has in excess of 13.5 million mobile phone subscribers. With a
population of 13.4 million people that translate to every individual in the
country having access to mobile phone communication.
Again, Zimbabwe is also ranked top of the literacy rate
on the continent and that points to the progressive policies of the government.
The European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) recently awarded Zimbabwe the
2014 World Best Tourism Destination describing the country as 'a safe, open and
perfect tourist destination'.
"To be negative about oneself is an inbuilt fear of own potential. Vultures often prey on that fear to permanently stifle that potential and the possibilities."
The list of positive things happening in Zimbabwe is
endless, but these always and often get buried under that veil of negativity.
Ideas build nations and ideas do not stem from negative mind sets. We have a
great country, we own it and owe it to ourselves to preserve and protect it
from the negative onslaught. To be negative about oneself is an inbuilt fear of
own potential. Vultures often prey on that fear to permanently stifle that
potential and the possibilities.
There are no boundaries to the possibilities that
Zimbabwe has to offer her citizens and the opportunities are being presented
without limits. Now is not the time for the so-called 'moderates' to champion
the vultures' cause but to embrace these endless possibilities. The only way
for Zimbabwe is up and you cannot help but notice. Now is the time to take a
break from the usual doom and gloom and highlight the positives.
Learn more about ZimAsset from the ZANU PF UK website.
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Bernard Bwoni is the ZANU PF UK Deputy Secretary for Admin.
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