Zimbabwe has lost 20 years, says Mnangagwa

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has conceded that Zimbabwe has fallen far behind other countries in terms of development saying the government needs to swallow its pride and review some controversial economic policies to attract foreign investment.  

He said government will have to literally bite the bullet for the country to catch up with its African peers adding that Zanu-PF government will bring back Zimbabwe to the table of nations.

Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe also needed to go through a vigorous reform process as happened in China following the death of the late communist dictator Mao Zedong in 1976 leading to its near-miraculous transformation into the world's second largest economy inside three decades.

In what could be the most open and candid assessment of Zimbabwe's current state by a top government official in the past few years, Mnangagwa elevated to the Vice-Presidency following a vicious power struggle, said the country was nearly two decades behind other nations in most aspects.

Mnangagwa could also not miss the opportunity to throw in the usual "sanctions mantra" blaming the targeted measures imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle by the US and European Union over accusations of rights abuses and electoral fraud for the "constraints that the economy suffered in the past 15 years".