'Shootings pushed Zimbabwe backwards'

Former War veterans minister Tshinga Dube has revealed that the much-publicised August 1 shootings drove the country's economy years backwards.

The shooting - which claimed six lives - was, according to the Monthlante Commission, a development that saw the country returning to international spotlight amid worldwide condemnation.

"I think there is hope or light at the end of the tunnel that our economy will recover but with the way things have taken shape, it will take a little bit too long for us to get things right," Dube said.

The former Makokoba legislator said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has gone to a number of countries as part of building new relations with them. But all came to naught, he said.

"The excitement we had when the new dispensation came to play, we thought many things will then come right but a lot of things have happened that were not foreseeable.

"When we were so hopeful that things would go right and we were very hopeful that sanctions were going to be terminated some very unfortunate things happened which affected us as well as our economy that is the August 1 shooting," Dube said.

He added: "It put us many years back not just months because the world was beginning to understand us much better."