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South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the European Union (EU) to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe, saying the country has turned a wonderful corner and needs support on its path to great reforms.

Zimbabwe has been under illegal Western sanctions for nearly 20 years and this has adversely affected economic growth.

President Ramaphosa called on EU leaders to lift the sanctions on Zimbabwe during the recent 7th South Africa European Union Summit in Brussels, Belgium, where they discussed a number of issues around trade, climate change, women’s rights among other global issues.

“We discussed a matter of other countries in our region, particularly Zimbabwe and called upon the EU to review its position on Zimbabwe and move towards lifting whatever sanctions they might still have on Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe is on a path of great reforms and we insisted that this needs to be supported as the country has turned a wonderful corner,” said President Ramaphosa.

It is pleasing to note that Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner, SA is aware of the positive developments that are taking place in the country.

It is however unfortunate that while foreigners are acknowledging the positive developments in our country, some sections of our own media have deliberately chosen to ignore these positive developments as they concentrate on painting an all gloomy picture.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who obviously is disturbed by such behaviour, this week urged the media to highlight the country’s success stories instead of expending their energies on negative stories that weigh down Government efforts to resuscitate the economy and lure investors.

Writing in his weekly column, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe’s economy was on the rebound, a fact supported by President Ramaphosa who said the country has turned a wonderful corner but some sections of the media still want to paint a gloomy picture.

Cde Mnangagwa said daily he meets delegations and visitors from different parts of the world who express surprise that the country they read about before they visit is hardly the same country they find and live in when they arrive.

“They confess to a marked positive discrepancy. Further they remark and ask: ‘Mr President, it is your people and Press here, not foreigners or foreign Press, responsible for writing down your country. Why?” said Cde Mnangagwa.

The media as the fourth estate, has a critical role to play in building the Zimbabwe we want.

Recently Cabinet approved for implementation 11 investment projects worth $5,3 billion and this is a positive development which the media should not just highlight but also celebrate.

We have said it before that as long as we do not have a shared vision when it comes to our national agenda, we will continue to have individuals, institutions or organisations putting spanners in the works such as the media which is concentrating on negative stories meant to scare away investors.

It is important for those in the media to appreciate that first and foremost they are Zimbabweans who have an obligation to contribute to turning around the economy.

It is sad to note that we have in our midst, media organisations that seem to relish the people’s suffering hence expend their energies on negative stories meant to harm the economy.