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Four years ago today, President Mnangagwa made his inaugural address as Head of State at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign was over and Zimbabweans, and the rest of the world wanted to hear what the new leader was promising.

This inauguration or acceptance speech will probably remain as the most important public address ever made in the country.

This is because so much had gone wrong. The past two decades or so, in particular, had seen the economy crash, the political divide grow and the country reeling from the effects of international isolation.

Zimbabweans were at loggerheads with each other and the world.

A lot had to be done to restore faith in the political order and the economy. A robust nation-building project was needed to bring Zimbabweans together while an international offensive was critical in restoring lost relations.

To his credit, President Mnangagwa did not just make promises on November 24, 2017. To get the country working again, he rolled up his sleeves and put shoulder to the wheel.

He warned that “we should never remain hostages to our past”. This is because we can never change our past.

However, we can shape our future. This is why the President hit the ground running and has been leading from the front for the past four years.

“I have to hit the ground running to make sure that I lead in stupendous efforts we all need to summon and unleash in concert, towards taking this Great Nation beyond where our immediate past President left it.

“For close to two decades now, this country went through many developments. While we cannot change the past, there is a lot we can do in the present and future to give our Nation a different, positive direction.

“As we do so, we should never remain hostages to our past. I thus humbly appeal to all of us that we let bygones be bygones, readily embracing each other in defining a new destiny.

The task at hand is that of rebuilding our great country. It principally lies with none but ourselves.

“I implore you all to declare that NEVER AGAIN should the circumstances that have put Zimbabwe in an unfavourable position be allowed to recur or overshadow its prospects.

We must work together, you, me, all of us who make up this Nation,” the President said in the historic speech.

The circumstances that put Zimbabwe in an unfavourable position are in the past. Those circumstances are not our future.

Our future is Vision 2030. To achieve this vision of becoming an upper-middle income economy,  Government set out three crucial plans: the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (September 2018 – December 2020), First Five year National Development Plan (2021-2025) and Second Five year National Development Plan (2026-2030).

We urge all Zimbabweans to rally behind the President in building a Zimbabwe we all want. We urge Zimbabweans to ignore paid hostages of the past, who are hellbent on seeing President Mnangagwa fail.

“NEVER AGAIN should the circumstances that have put Zimbabwe in an unfavourable position be allowed to recur or overshadow its prospects.”