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Ranga Mataire,Group Political Editor

While Western imposed sanctions have over the years retarded economic development, the coming of the New Dispensation has changed the narrative of victimhood to triumph.

Cognisant of the seemingly unchanging reticent Western attitude towards Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa is making his citizens dream again by devising and implementing various initiatives that focus on utilisation of local resources to spur economic development.

Much to the chagrin of sanctions imposers, Zimbabwe has been graded as one of the fastest growing economies in the region and the continent with President Mnangagwa projecting that the country will attain the status of an Upper Middle Income society by 2030.

In fact, such a projection might even come early. Writing in his weekly column in The Sunday Mail newspaper, President Mnangagwa said the country’s national vision of becoming an Upper Middle Income society could be realised ahead of schedule in 2028.

But what exactly is making President Mnangagwa buoyant? He explains: “Vision 2030 straddles three political terms, the first of which began in 2018 and ended this year, just before our harmonised elections. We have just begun the second term, which ends two years shy of 2030, the year our vision is scheduled to run its full programmed course.”

President Mnangagwa told readers of The Sunday Mail that his current term of office is a decisive one in actualising the broad goals of his vision.

There is tangible evidence on the ground that gives the President the confidence that his vision would be attained within his term lines. Remarkable success has been scored in mining, infrastructure development (dams/roads), energy and agriculture sectors.

Since assuming power in 2018, the President has rallied citizens to utilise local resources to spur development. He has also rallied his Cabinet to embrace a different work-ethic of being results-oriented. The results have been impressive.

Infrastructure
One of President Mnangagwa’s legacy defining projects is the Beitbridge-Harare rehabilitation and dualisation. A ground-breaking ceremony to kick-start the 585km highway by the late President Mugabe at Chaka Growth Point came to naught as the US$1 billion deal with Geiger International became a still-birth. Nothing happened.

Enter President Mnangagwa. He decided to take a different route. Instead of one foreign company — he decided that local companies would do the job. The project would be funded from the budget and not from offshore loans as is the norm for such projects on the continent.

“In the past years, we used to call for international tenders whenever we wanted to build our roads, we are now working with local contractors,” President Mnangagwa told his supporters during campaigns in the recent harmonised elections.

The decision to engage local contractors proved a masterstroke as evidenced by the work so far undertaken on the highway. More than 400km of the 571km from Beitbridge-Harare highway has been completed so far.

The Beitbridge to Chirundu Road Corridor is a Trans-African Highway Network linking South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It is part of the North-South Corridor project and forms the entire Zimbabwean section of the Cape to Cairo road.

In the six months to June this year, the Government has spent $478 billion on infrastructure projects with $180 billion being spent on roads particularly the Beitbridge-Harare highway. But road networks are not the only infrastructure projects being funded with local resources.

Agriculture
The Government has laid out plans to utilise 350 hectares for irrigation. The impact has been widespread with almost all irrigation schemes getting funding with the bulk of the money channelled to the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, whose construction started in August 2018 and is now more than 70 percent complete.

Under President Mnangagwa, 12 major dams have either been completed or nearing completion. These include Marovanyika, Vungu, Lake Gwayi-Shangani, Tuli Manyange, Chivhu, Semwa, Ziminya, Kunzvi, Dande, Bindura, Silverstroom and Muchekerenwa.

Commissioning the Chivhu Dam back in June, President Mnangagwa laid bare his vision on agriculture when he said: “All these dams we are building come with irrigation schemes. Nobody should go hungry when we have poor rains.”

And communities in the surrounding areas have been appreciative of the President’s thrust in constructing dams as a buffer against hunger. An upsurge in wheat production in the previous season is all because of the President’s visionary interventions in agriculture.

Mining
The mining sector has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. In 2022, the formal mining sector added 50 000 new jobs. Chamber of Mines chief economist Dave Matyanga says: “The mining sector remains in a positive trajectory buoyed by fresh investments and growth opportunities. In 2022, over 50  000 jobs were created within the sector as a result of massive fresh capital injection by new and existing players.”

The Chamber of Mines is projecting a growth of 9 percent in jobs this year. New large investments in lithium last year soured growth especially with the coming on board of new lithium plants by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Max Mind, Bikita Minerals and expansion in gold and platinum mines. The mining sector contributes over 75 percent of the country’s foreign earnings but over the years has not contributed much in terms of formal jobs.

Energy
Against all odds, the Government has worked so hard to ensure reliable power supply for both domestic and industrial use. The successful completion and implementation of expansion of Unit 7 and 8 at the Hwange Thermal Power Station has made it possible for Zimbabwe to stop load shedding. Additionally, the contribution of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) through the establishment of solar parks, along with improved output from Kariba Hydro-Power Station, has been instrumental in achieving this milestone.

Zimbabwe’s total domestic power generation capacity has surpassed 1 500MW, making a remarkable improvement from the previous capacity of less than 600MW in March of this year. The completion of the US$1,5 billion Hwange Thermal Power Station Units 7 and 8 Expansion project testifies the fruition of President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement foreign policy thrust. The Government successfully secured loan funding from China in 2018 and the project has been successfully implemented by a Chinese contractor, Sinohydro Corporation.

What is happening in Zimbabwe is a sure case study for economists and development experts. It’s a remarkable story of resilience against adversity.

It is also a story about an astute leadership seeking a better future for the people through utilisation of the country’s human and natural resources.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the Zimbabwe economy to grow by 4,1 percent this year, growing faster than the 2,5 percent that it initially projected. In its World Economic Outlook report released last Tuesday, the IMF said Zimbabwe’s economy grew by 6,2 percent in 2022.

It also said the economy expanded by 8,5 percent in 2021. Although the IMF’s projection for 2023 is lower than the Government’s projection of 5,3 percent, it is heartwarming to note that such a body can have a positive economic estimate for a country that has been denied any lines of credit for over two decades.