A new and prosperous Zimbabwean future is in our hands

The last nine months have been very symbolic as they signify birth and renewal. Together, all of us have helped create a new Zimbabwe, a nation renewed and rebirthed.

Just like the labour and delivery of a blessed and beautiful child, our new nation has not been without discomfort and difficulties. Fear not, for these are the birth pangs of a new, vibrant, progressive and free Zimbabwe, one where success, prosperity and a better life will be felt by all.

Already, over the last almost nine months the government, led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has delivered some significant achievements.

He has singularly attracted over $16bn of investment commitments, which are beginning to give Zimbabwe the resources to achieve our national goals.

The president has fought corruption, recovering significant sums of money, while also easing the everyday corruption all Zimbabweans have suffered from.

He has revitalised critical infrastructure. Every day it seems that President Mnangagwa is opening or reopening mines, factories and power plants across the land.

He has invested heavily in our healthcare sector, drastically increasing the budget, providing free healthcare to vulnerable groups and scrapping blood user fees.

And under President Mnangagwa's leadership over 60,000 new jobs have been created.

Most of all,his reforms have begun to revive the economy and to lay the foundations for sustainable, long-term growth. Every neutral global economist is rushing to reassess their economic growth outlook upwards for Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is growing beyond all expert's expectations.

At the same time, President Mnangagwa has maintained the peace, laid the foundations for free and fair elections, and given people the opportunity to speak their mind.

The national discourse and decision-making is no longer in the hands of a few, but all the people. The president has traveled to all the four corners of the land and listened to our pain, our hopes and our dreams.

It is precisely what the president has heard from us that he is using to lay the foundations for the rebirth of our great nation, a nation whose greatest resource is not the soil beneath our feet or the gold, coal, iron ore or lithium in our ground, but it is the good, honest and hard-working people of Zimbabwe.

We regularly hear President Mnangagwa tell our foreign guests to express at much confidence in our people as he does, and with dedicated and honest international partners the sky is the limit for what we can achieve.

They say that "Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky". There is nothing we should not strive for, whether it is in our private lives, our families' hopes, our community's dreams and certainly not our nation's achievements.

We are an ambitious people which have known much suffering. While in no way ignoring the past, we should focus on a future where our ambitions as people, families, communities and as a nation can and will be achieved.

It is clear with President Mnangagwa we are heading towards a new, open, prosperous and stable Zimbabwe.

With real, long-term growth, genuine solutions to the challenges we face, a resilient economy and sustainable jobs.

We know that real change takes time and requires tough decisions and strong leadership. President Mnangagwa is clearly prepared to take the steps necessary to build a Zimbabwe we can all be proud of.

The past almost nine months have been about laying the groundwork, the foundations. The president is finishing off someone else's term in office, and his room for manoeuvre has been somewhat limited.

But once re-elected, with a real mandate for change and a full five year term, it is clear that change will be felt by all.

President Mnangagwa has pledged to use the increased foreign investment to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in agriculture, mining, tourism, the service sectors and new infrastructure projects.

He has pledged to demonstrate zero-tolerance for corruption. In the new Zimbabwe, nobody is above the law. Anyone found guilty of corruption will be immediately fired and punished accordingly.

He has pledged to establish a modern, affordable healthcare system for all by reducing hospital fees by 50%, improving the supply of critical drugs, guaranteeing free healthcare to all cancer patients and building 78 new hospitals ensuring one hospital per district.

He has pledged to develop infrastructure worthy of the new Zimbabwe by increasing power generation capacity, constructing a new railway network system connecting all provinces, towns and neighbouring countries, and the dualisation of all major roads.

And finally, he has pledged to generate unprecedented educational and employment opportunities for our youth, by developing empowerment programmes such as Youth Business Hubs, fostering youth ownership and control of resources, establishing quotas for allocation of stands and houses, and mentorship and training programmes.

On July 30, we are voting for leadership to realise our dreams, with action, and not mere words.

We are voting for leadership. Brave, responsible and compassionate leadership.

We are voting for a concrete plan. To rebuild our economy, fight corruption and create jobs, jobs and more jobs.

We are voting for a better future, not just for today or tomorrow, but for generations to come.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the only leader which can give us this, and that is why we should vote for him on Monday.