Opinion / Columnist
Precab farm engagement and my thoughts on the proposed extension of the term of office for President Emmerson Mnangagwa
6 hrs ago | Views
Last weekend, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's family hosted Zanu PF officials and other political figures at its Precab Farm in Kwekwe where, mainly, the business of the day was the touring of the farm.
It is not a secret that the first family has been engaged in serious farming activity on this piece of land and last week, those that visited the farm upon invitation witnessed first-hand what the president means when he marshals his people to venture into farming.
Remember he has been on record telling his party supporters to seriously venture into the agricultural terrain, emphasizing that this is not territory for child’s play business. And last week, he (Mnangagwa) decided that it was high time the world gets a glimpse of what he meant during rallies when he spoke about taking farming seriously.
Among those that were invited to the tour were members of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party which is led by Mr. Sengezo Tshabangu.
Figures floating on media spaces suggest that more than 20 opposition legislators attended the farm tour.
Many independent analysts have wielded the axe on the party officials from the CCC that attended the Precab Farm tour, arguing that they were wining and dining with Mnangagwa at a time when they should be with their constituents.
I, for one, believe that there is nothing sinister about this visit as, for me, it was a visit meant to give the opposition legislators and other guests on the day an insight into what Mnangagwa has been silently doing at his farm.
I did not get the opportunity to earn an invitation from the organizers of the event but I am sure that had I been afforded that opportunity, I would have grabbed it with both hands as it is a very rare opportunity to be invited to tour this farm solely to get an appreciation into what the president and leader of our country is doing, personally, on the agricultural front.
I am very aware that most, if not all, of the critics believe that this kind of visit by the CCC legislators is part of what they have come to coin as selling out. They believe that by agreeing to go for the tour, the CCC legislators have “sold out” the struggle for what we all yearn for- a better Zimbabwe.
I believe that such views and labelling should now belong to the dustbins of Zimbabwe’s political history. The notion that if one is seen around Zanu PF officials, and in this case, invited to a farm owned by the president and leader of Zanu PF, they automatically carry the sellout tag- something that worked in the 1999s when opposition politics started to gather steam in Zimbabwe after the 1987 Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu.
These were moments when people, especially those in the then Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) hated, or let me use loathed, anything with links to Zanu PF with so much energy.
Innocent political activists were smeared with all sorts of dirt by their fellow colleagues in the opposition movement to an extent that this kind of smearing spelt doom to some of the accused people’s political life. And yes, they were condemned to the archives of Zimbabwe’s political history.
Today’s politics should be about ideas and their competition for space in the world of our political information consumers- the electorate- who are then expected to use such information to make informed political decisions.
Many a times, many might hate the name Zanu PF but it should be borne in mind that it is not everyone in Zanu PF who has a bad boy or bad girl tag hanging on their necks. Some of the brilliant policies that have spurred this country to greater heights, in some instances, come from people who are members of the party. So, painting everyone with the same brush is an old age political practice that should not have any further space in our body politick, especially in this day and age of an educated Zimbabwean voter.
I believe that those that visited Precab Farm, especially those from the opposition, should carry lessons that would improve their appreciation of the farming business so that when they eventually ask questions to the ministry of agriculture in Parliament, they will do so with an informed mindset.
That farm tour should have given them some pointers that would help them in debates in the August House.
Having said that, allow me to flip the script to the next aspect of this opinion piece.
For the last couple of days, there has been a raging debate on the issue of the extension of President Mnangagwa’s term of office beyond the year 2028. In fact, the proponents of the extension have set 2030 as the year they believe should be the year when we finally bid the president good bye.
There are so many schools of thought on this matter and I believe that adding my voice to the debate would not be a bad idea.
I am of the view that President Mnangagwa’s government has, to a certain extent, tried to create a situation where there is a modicum of sanity in the country, especially on the livelihoods of the general man on the streets front.
There have been a number of developmental projects that government has rolled out on the infrastructure front, with some roads being rehabilitated.
The government has also been hard at work trying to ensure that there is access to improved healthcare facilities and medication at these facilities, especially in rural areas where the larger mass of the country’s population lives.
The economy, previously ranked as being among the worst in Africa and internationally, is slowly but surely coming out of the woods, with investor interest on Zimbabwe increasing.
There are many positive spinoffs that have been realized out of the current government’s policies that President Mnangagwa has been the face of. He has led the implementation of these policies and there is still a lot of work to be done in getting the country’s socio-political and economic well-being at the level the president desires through his Vision 2030 mantra.
Allow me to state that an extended presidential term has, as one of its benefits, the ability to provide stability and continuity in leadership until a time when the policies developed by the government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa are able to bear the desired fruits.
Should the president be allowed to serve for an extended period, it is my belief that he will be able to see his policies through to completion and avoid the disruption that often comes with a change in administration.
I, for one, believe that with ample time, between now and 2030, President Mnangagwa is going to be able to see through his policies and round up his programme of action to its logical conclusion. Cutting this run of policies in 2028 leaves us, as Zimbabweans, in a situation where we are likely to spend, let me rather say waste, another five years of the next administration as it (the new administration) seeks to acclimatize with policy formulation spaces.
This has a danger of further ruining an otherwise potentially great economy. I rest my case.
Innocent Ndibali is the leader of the Zimbabwe Economic Freedom Fighters- a Zimbabwean political party.
It is not a secret that the first family has been engaged in serious farming activity on this piece of land and last week, those that visited the farm upon invitation witnessed first-hand what the president means when he marshals his people to venture into farming.
Remember he has been on record telling his party supporters to seriously venture into the agricultural terrain, emphasizing that this is not territory for child’s play business. And last week, he (Mnangagwa) decided that it was high time the world gets a glimpse of what he meant during rallies when he spoke about taking farming seriously.
Among those that were invited to the tour were members of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party which is led by Mr. Sengezo Tshabangu.
Figures floating on media spaces suggest that more than 20 opposition legislators attended the farm tour.
Many independent analysts have wielded the axe on the party officials from the CCC that attended the Precab Farm tour, arguing that they were wining and dining with Mnangagwa at a time when they should be with their constituents.
I, for one, believe that there is nothing sinister about this visit as, for me, it was a visit meant to give the opposition legislators and other guests on the day an insight into what Mnangagwa has been silently doing at his farm.
I did not get the opportunity to earn an invitation from the organizers of the event but I am sure that had I been afforded that opportunity, I would have grabbed it with both hands as it is a very rare opportunity to be invited to tour this farm solely to get an appreciation into what the president and leader of our country is doing, personally, on the agricultural front.
I am very aware that most, if not all, of the critics believe that this kind of visit by the CCC legislators is part of what they have come to coin as selling out. They believe that by agreeing to go for the tour, the CCC legislators have “sold out” the struggle for what we all yearn for- a better Zimbabwe.
I believe that such views and labelling should now belong to the dustbins of Zimbabwe’s political history. The notion that if one is seen around Zanu PF officials, and in this case, invited to a farm owned by the president and leader of Zanu PF, they automatically carry the sellout tag- something that worked in the 1999s when opposition politics started to gather steam in Zimbabwe after the 1987 Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu.
These were moments when people, especially those in the then Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) hated, or let me use loathed, anything with links to Zanu PF with so much energy.
Innocent political activists were smeared with all sorts of dirt by their fellow colleagues in the opposition movement to an extent that this kind of smearing spelt doom to some of the accused people’s political life. And yes, they were condemned to the archives of Zimbabwe’s political history.
Today’s politics should be about ideas and their competition for space in the world of our political information consumers- the electorate- who are then expected to use such information to make informed political decisions.
Many a times, many might hate the name Zanu PF but it should be borne in mind that it is not everyone in Zanu PF who has a bad boy or bad girl tag hanging on their necks. Some of the brilliant policies that have spurred this country to greater heights, in some instances, come from people who are members of the party. So, painting everyone with the same brush is an old age political practice that should not have any further space in our body politick, especially in this day and age of an educated Zimbabwean voter.
I believe that those that visited Precab Farm, especially those from the opposition, should carry lessons that would improve their appreciation of the farming business so that when they eventually ask questions to the ministry of agriculture in Parliament, they will do so with an informed mindset.
That farm tour should have given them some pointers that would help them in debates in the August House.
Having said that, allow me to flip the script to the next aspect of this opinion piece.
For the last couple of days, there has been a raging debate on the issue of the extension of President Mnangagwa’s term of office beyond the year 2028. In fact, the proponents of the extension have set 2030 as the year they believe should be the year when we finally bid the president good bye.
There are so many schools of thought on this matter and I believe that adding my voice to the debate would not be a bad idea.
I am of the view that President Mnangagwa’s government has, to a certain extent, tried to create a situation where there is a modicum of sanity in the country, especially on the livelihoods of the general man on the streets front.
There have been a number of developmental projects that government has rolled out on the infrastructure front, with some roads being rehabilitated.
The government has also been hard at work trying to ensure that there is access to improved healthcare facilities and medication at these facilities, especially in rural areas where the larger mass of the country’s population lives.
The economy, previously ranked as being among the worst in Africa and internationally, is slowly but surely coming out of the woods, with investor interest on Zimbabwe increasing.
There are many positive spinoffs that have been realized out of the current government’s policies that President Mnangagwa has been the face of. He has led the implementation of these policies and there is still a lot of work to be done in getting the country’s socio-political and economic well-being at the level the president desires through his Vision 2030 mantra.
Allow me to state that an extended presidential term has, as one of its benefits, the ability to provide stability and continuity in leadership until a time when the policies developed by the government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa are able to bear the desired fruits.
Should the president be allowed to serve for an extended period, it is my belief that he will be able to see his policies through to completion and avoid the disruption that often comes with a change in administration.
I, for one, believe that with ample time, between now and 2030, President Mnangagwa is going to be able to see through his policies and round up his programme of action to its logical conclusion. Cutting this run of policies in 2028 leaves us, as Zimbabweans, in a situation where we are likely to spend, let me rather say waste, another five years of the next administration as it (the new administration) seeks to acclimatize with policy formulation spaces.
This has a danger of further ruining an otherwise potentially great economy. I rest my case.
Innocent Ndibali is the leader of the Zimbabwe Economic Freedom Fighters- a Zimbabwean political party.
Source - Innocent Ndibali
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
