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Address by his excellency the President of the republic of Zimbabwe, Comrade RG Mugabe on the occasion of Zimbabwe’s 36th Independence Day celebrations, harare, yesterday. 

• Honourable Vice President, Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mrs Mnangagwa,
• Honourable Vice President, Comrade Phelekezela Mphoko and Mrs Mphoko,
• Honourable President of the Senate, Mai Edna Madzongwe,
• Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda,
• The Chief Justice, Honourable Godfrey Chidyausiku,
• Honourable Ministers,
• Honourable Members of Parliament,
• Service Chiefs,
• Families of Heroes of the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle,
• War Veterans, War Collaborators, Ex-Detainees and Restrictees,
• Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
• Esteemed Foreign Guests and Visitors,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,
• Comrades and Friends.

May I welcome you all to the National Celebrations of 36 years of our hard won freedom and sovereignty. Celebrations are indeed taking place throughout the country, signifying that we are now a people fully enjoying the right of self-determination and self-actualisation. We should, however, always remember that our Independence did not come on a silver platter, for many lives were lost and many were maimed or scarred for life during the bitter liberation struggle.

As we continue to recognise the importance and crucial role played by the war veterans in the bitter struggle for freedom, the government has now established a full Cabinet ministry to oversee and manage the provision of their welfare, including that of former political detainees and restrictees.

As you are aware, only 11 days ago I had the pleasure of meeting about 10,000 of them to hear and discuss their concerns and assure them of the government welfare assistance to alleviate their social situation.

Ladies and Gentleman, Comrades and Friends,

While our economy has been showing signs of growth and recovery, the country has been sadly hit by the El Nino climatic phenomenon which has unleashed on us one of the worst droughts in living memory. As a result, we expect poor harvest of food crops.

But the government has taken precautions to prevent starvation amongst our people through effective grain import arrangements. At the same time, the government is also accelerating its implementation of ZimAsset, the Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, with the objective of achieving growth, sustainable development and social equality over the medium term. Government has evolved a 10 Point Plan as its implementation mechanism.

The 10 points will include a rapid results framework, revitalisation of agriculture and mining and value addition and beneficiation, financial inclusion and infrastructure development, as well as tourism promotion. There will be an exercise of debt clearance as we re-engage with the international community.

Fellow Zimbabweans, in order to sustain the success of our Land Reform Programme, the government is working with our financial institutions so as to conclude the bankability of the 99-year leases. Such a development will guarantee our farmers security of tenure, for both A1 and A2 farmers.

Our re-organisation of the mining sector, which includes the consolidated State ownership of the diamond mines, and the strategic management of gold mining and gold product, has started showing improved results with gold output now 20,2 tonnes, rising expectedly to 25,5 tonnes by the year end.

With respect to the manufacturing sector, I am glad to inform you that there has been a very commendable resuscitation of companies that had closed or were on the brink of closure. In addition, there has been the formation of completely new companies within the economy during the past few years.

The resuscitated companies include Lobels Bread, Cairns Holdings, Rio Zim, Blue Ribbon Foods, Delta Corporation, Arenel, Olivine Industries, Border Timbers, Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (COTTCO) and CAPS Pharmaceuticals, among others. New entrants and those that have expanded their operations in the domestic economy include: Pure Oil, Surface Investments, Grafax Holdings, Feed Mix, Novatex, Profeeds, Divipel, Nibble, Ninjanux, Kefalos, just to mention a few.

The resuscitation, formation and expansion of these and other companies has greatly assisted us in preserving employment, creating new jobs, saving foreign currency, enhancing fiscal space and in increasing production.

With regards to the State highways and other tarred roads, I note with satisfaction that the Harare International Airport Road dualisation project and the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway upgrade and rehabilitation were successfully completed. In addition, several other roads have been widened. Government has found a financier and contractor for the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Road which will be constructed at an estimated cost of US$2 billion. On the other hand, it is pleasing to note that Air Zimbabwe, the National Railways of Zimbabwe are now steadily on the way to resuscitation.

Fellow Zimbabweans, the power situation in the country has improved significantly this year. Government has managed to drastically reduce load shedding by increasing the output at Hwange Power Station and by importing additional power from regional power utilities in the Southern African Power Pool.

In the medium term, we expect to benefit from the Kariba Power Station expansion, presently at 41 percent completion stage, and Hwange Power Station, for which we have signed a loan with China Exim Bank. We also have active plans to repower Harare, Munyati and Bulawayo Power Stations.

In line with the promotion of renewable energies, Government has embarked on a massive solar water heating programme. We are encouraging all new houses to have solar water heaters instead of electric geysers. Existing homes are also encouraged to replace the electric geysers with solar water heaters. This programme, launched in September 2015, will have first installations done this year. It should be noted that all the solar geysers for the programme are to be manufactured locally.

Let me acknowledge that the African Development Bank has given us much needed financial support. Recently they availed a grant in support of our beef and leather value chain project that will surely drive growth in the Matabeleland North and South provinces by ensuring competitiveness of both local and export markets.

Government is also working to buttress the competitive agenda through the “Doing Business Reforms Programme” which seeks to improve the “Doing Business in Zimbabwe”, hence the current review of procedure manuals and some legislation, which have been hindering a speedy registration of enterprises.

In an effort to facilitate trade, the government has adopted the Border Efficiency Management System whose aim is to promote trade facilitation and reduce congestion at the country’s borders. Following the establishment and operationalisation of the Chirundu One Stop Border Post in 2009, efforts are now at an advanced stage to transform the Beitbridge Border Post into a One Stop Border Post.

To increase international trade, Zimbabwe has also been making parallel efforts to boost exports by consolidating and expanding existing markets whilst also exploring new markets with the strategic focus on the regional markets. In the context of deeper regional integration, we are pursuing trade development through the Southern African Development Community.

Fellow Zimbabweans, Comrades and Friends,

In the sphere of Foreign Policy, Zimbabwe successfully chaired the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU). This historic feat accorded the country the rare opportunity to serve the people of Southern Africa, and Africa at large, in pushing forward the sub-region’s and the continent’s priorities. Our leadership of these two organisations greatly enhanced Zimbabwe’s image and influence in Africa and beyond. The country’s Look East Policy also received a major boost with the State visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping, in December 2015.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends,

My government is determined to translate political independence into meaningfulness, by attending to the socio-economic needs of our people. Progress has also been made in the development of social infrastructure in health, education and housing. This also includes the capacitating of our education sector with ICT as well as the implementation of e-Government in order to enhance efficiency and quality of service delivery to the public.

In the Health sector, the government continues to prioritise attention to communicable diseases such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. To this end, various strategies are being implemented, aimed at strengthening the health sector in order to improve service delivery.

The development of our rural communities, where the majority of our people reside, remains under constant focus and indeed a “raison d’etre” of government.

To this end, the government now has the Ministry of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Natural Heritage. This re-arrangement of government functions resulted in the creation of the Ministry of Sport and Recreation which will, on its part, concentrate on the development of sporting and recreational activities in the country.

The government will also continue to find ways of improving the welfare of civil servants. It is the desire of the government that salaries progressively match the Poverty Datum Line. The government apologises for the late disbursement of salaries, bonuses and monthly payments to pensioners but, be rest assured, the government is working flat out to improve the situation. Now that the workers have begun contributing towards the pension fund, payment of pensioners will be more predictable and on time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends,

Our security and defence forces have remained resolute in defending our sovereignty and peace within our borders. On the international scene, they continue to make us proud. Currently, our security forces have officers deployed on peace support operations in the Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Cote d’ Ivoire.

Today, as we celebrate our 36th Independence Day Anniversary, let us re-dedicate ourselves to serve Zimbabwe at all times, always striving for peace, respect, tolerance and goodwill towards others and to tirelessly work for the unity and development of our beloved country, Zimbabwe. One of the greatest tributes we can pay to Zimbabwe is to shun corruption, regionalism and nepotism. We should always remember that we are one people, united by the bond of Independence.

Once again, I say

Happy Birthday Zimbabwe

Happy 36th Independence Day Anniversary,

Long Live Zimbabwe,

Long Live our Independence,

Makorokoto,

Amhlophe,

Congratulations,

I thank you.