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PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has on many occasions encouraged Zimbabweans to be patriotic noting that while there is diversity, there should be unity under the nation’s flag and in pursuit of the national interest.

International Relations Scholar Hans Morgenthau defines national interest as, “the interest of a nation as a whole held to be an independent entity separate from the interests of subordinate areas or groups and also of other nations or supranational groups.”

Another scholar Zongyi Liu says national interests encompass the political interests, security interests, economic interests, cultural interests and other interests of a country.

“With the State sovereignty at the core, a country’s political interests embody the bulk of its national interests with national security being the most fundamental of the national interests. The concept of national interests reflects one’s fundamental perception of the composition of national interests, its importance, its purpose, its values and ways to realise these values.

“As an integral part of strategic thinking, the concept of national interests, once formed, will exert great impact on the making and implementation of national strategies. From a cognitive viewpoint, the concept of national interests is deeply influenced by the way of thinking, cultural traditions, values, ideologies and other characteristics of the subject.”

President Mnangagwa has summed up these definitions in his philosophy, “Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo/Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo” in emphasising the duty every Zimbabwean plays in the development of the country.

This duty also includes defending Zimbabwe from negative and destructive forces and also through refraining from any conduct that could hurt the country’s interests.

Speaking as he delivered the State of the Nation Address and officially opened the fifth session of the Ninth Parliament of Zimbabwe at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, Mashonaland West Province on Wednesday, President Mnangagwa called for political tolerance among politicians aspiring to contest in the 2023 harmonised elections.

President Mnangagwa said politicians should lead in promoting peace ahead of the general elections.

“Political players, seeking the people’s mandate during the upcoming 2023 harmonised elections, must maintain and consolidate the peace, unity, harmony and love that we have built under the Second Republic.

harmonised elections

Violent confrontations have never been part of our culture,” said President Mnangagwa.

Critically, the Second Republic has made strides in not only uniting the nation but also reviving the economy through a cocktail of measures meant to lift Zimbabwe into an upper-middle-class economy by 2030.

This, the Second Republic, again guided by the philosophy of, “leaving no one and no place behind” is meant to benefit all Zimbabweans regardless of creed or political affiliation.

It is against this background that Zimbabweans are reminded that as the nation prepares for the 2023 elections, let the conduct leading to and post the polls not hurt the national interest and reverse the gains the Second Republic has made so far.

In previous years, some political organisations, pursuing the agenda of nations hostile to Zimbabwe, have gone into an overdrive in demonising the country by creating false narratives of human rights abuses among other concocted ills.

After losing elections, the opposition parties have not only refused to acknowledge the outcome but have gone on to engage in orgies of violence before crying “State repression” when the long arm of the law eventually caught up with them.

This has done nothing more than hurt the country and going to 2023 we urge those political formations to be guided by the tenets of the national interest as the interests of Zimbabwe will always come first ahead of any other.