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Cabinet Ministers should take seriously the call by President Mugabe for them to pull up their socks and start delivering. Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on Tuesday, Cde Mugabe said Cabinet Ministers should pull up their socks and cut on travelling to ensure the successful implementation of Zim-Asset.

Cde Mugabe who was addressing cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament after the official opening of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament said he was fed up with government officials who always travelled at the expense of service delivery.

Cde Mugabe said there was too much travelling to attend meetings and as a result very little is being given to practical work. He said the people wanted practical servants and not theorists. “Zim-Asset should not just remain a name. It must instead be a practical engine,” said Cde Mugabe.

He said Zim-Asset stated that the country must produce enough food for the people, add value to the country’s natural resources as opposed to exporting raw materials. “That is what our economic blueprint Zim-Asset says on paper but unfortunately what we say on paper is not put into practice. We must be practical people now, not theorists,” said the President.

Cde Mugabe said government Ministers had a tendency to have debates hence the many meetings being organised at the expense of implementing development projects. He said he was being inundated with invitations to meetings as opposed to invitations to check on progress in implementing projects or to celebrate completion of projects.

Cde Mugabe said he would like to be invited to a tour of a completed irrigation scheme or dams under construction. He said the time to talk was over and now people want to see results on the ground. People want to see new mines being opened, roads, bridges, schools and clinics being constructed.

It is time Cabinet Ministers take Cde Mugabe’s warning seriously as they risk being dumped by voters in the next elections. Most of the Ministers are Members of Parliament who were voted into office by people after promising to undertake a number of development projects meant to uplift the people’s standard of living.

We totally agree with Cde Mugabe that too much time is being wasted in workshops and meetings at the expense of implementing projects. Drawers of most Ministers’ offices are full of documents prepared at workshops with high-sounding resolutions but these documents are just gathering dust and it is time some of the resolution are implemented.

It is more than a year since the new government took office and it is time Cabinet Ministers do an introspection to find out what projects their respective ministries have implemented in the last 12 months or so.

The President’s Office on its part should do an evaluation of the work of all Cabinet Ministers and those performing below expectations should be shown the exit.

We are of the view that it is time to demonstrate that government is serious when it orders ministers to deliver by firing incompetent individuals. Cabinet Ministers should therefore take heed of the President’s warning or risk being booted out.