We all have role to play in development, says Mnangagwa

Every citizen has a role to play in the economic transformation that is underway, for the improvement of national living standards which should result in the attainment of an empowered and prosperous upper middle income society by 2030, President Mnangagwa has said.

He said this in Epworth on Saturday while addressing an oversubscribed star rally ahead of the March 26 National Assembly and council by-elections.

The President said while the country remains under sanctions imposed by the West over two decades ago, the national leadership has not folded hands and stopped thinking of ways to sidestep the economic embargo, resulting in various projects such as roads and dam construction, and massive support for the mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors of the economy, using locally generated funds since the coming in of the Second Republic in 2017.

The Government has declared that the country's development is behind by about two decades compared to its regional neighbours, hence the decision to locate avenues that could help Zimbabwe to generate resources required for national development.

Presently, all 10 provinces either have a dam being constructed or that was completed, and roads that are being constructed or have been concluded, all of them using locally generated funds, with a view to ensure no person or place is left behind.

Arguably the biggest project being done using local resources is the modernisation of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, which has seen almost 300km completed and opened to the motoring public.

But President Mnangagwa wants all citizens to participate in their various ways in national development, starting at the family level.

Those that wished to be supported by Government in the quest to ensure household and national food security, are already getting free inputs under the Presidential Pfumvudza/ Intwasa Programme that started last season, with over 2,3 million households participating resulting in massive maize production last year.

The Pfumvudza/ Intwasa Programme has been extended to cotton, with about 100 000 households subscribing to the programme.

Said President Mnangagwa: "You must ask yourself, ‘what am I contributing to economic development?' Do something that helps your family, that helps your community, that helps the country.

"Don't just be a destroyer while others are constructing. If you do so (economic sabotage) and we identify you, the day you die and we bury you, we will tell future generations that ‘here is where a person that sold out their country is buried' and we will trash your grave.

But if you worked well for your country, we will say here is where a person who worked well for their country is buried."

The President added that no one must look down upon any economic activity that someone ventures into, as it has a bigger role to play in the development matrix.

"Every job must be respected, what you do at your homestead, in the community; do your work well. No one must look down upon what you do," he said.

Already, the Presidential Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme has directly improved the lives of over 500 000 rural households that elected to adopt it.

The scheme has created over 4 000 jobs and is expected to generate up to US$60 million in foreign currency this year.

Since his maiden statement on November 24, 2017, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was going to create a conducive environment for a private-sector led economic growth that has a bias towards production, focusing on mining, agriculture and manufacturing, to ensure more foreign currency was generated from exports.

Many companies, especially new ones owned by young people, are now involved in the production of various goods for local consumption and export.

Over 70 percent of goods sold in Zimbabwean shops are locally made, an indication that many people are embracing the culture of hard, honest work to develop their country.

Some youths are involved in agriculture focusing on tobacco, wheat, cotton and horticulture for export, while others are into gold mining and are contributing to forex generation.

Last year, Zimbabwe generated its highest ever foreign currency receipts of US$9,7 billion, a 53,5 percent rise from the previous year, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya said in the 2022 Monetary Policy Statement.

Export proceeds contributed US$6,194 billion dollars, Diaspora remittances US$2,405 billion dollars and loan proceeds US$876,06 million dollars.