The Sunday News
Bongani Ngwenya
NOW that the elections have come and gone Zimbabwe needs to move on. President Mnangagwa has won the mandate to lead the country in the next five years.
The events of November 2017 led to the end of the old Zimbabwe political economy. Those that formed a new Government thereafter coined the newly found political economy the “new dispensation” which had to take over the management of the pre-election phase.
Compared to the past preparation periods for elections in Zimbabwe, this time around there was significant change and departure from the manner the past Government used to manage the pre-election periods. For some of us who are not politicians, and probably do not understand politics, at least appreciate the manner the pre-election preparation phase has been managed.
We hope the post-election phase will continue to be managed prudently by those that have won and those that have lost the election for the sake of our beautiful country. The economic challenges lying ahead are insurmountable. The country’s economy needs serious attention and that can only be achieved if Zimbabwe is allowed to move on. As a country, we are entering a very critical stage. I guess we have been judged well as far as our conduct during the pre-election period.
We cannot afford to mess ourselves up right now. We are looking forward to being re-admitted into the Commonwealth.
We are looking forward to attracting foreign direct investments once again. We are looking forward to seeing the country retaking its rightful position in the global family of nations. We are looking forward to seeing the country heading in the direction of economic growth and development once again. We are looking forward to seeing Zimbabwe being not only being open for business, but also being now the prime investment destination of choice in the Sadc region.
It is my opinion and argument that Zimbabwe probably needs a post-election political economy transformation that would ensure the post-election healing, and healing from the ills of the past as well. I have said it in the past that Zimbabwe has proven that as country she can move on politically, break the ills of the past and forge a new beginning.
Zimbabweans are capable of uniting for a common cause. They demonstrated that during the events of the November 2017.
Zimbabweans also demonstrated during the Government of National Unity famously referred to as the GNU that they can work together for the good of the country.
We have stood up in the past and shown the whole world that as a nation we are capable of transcending our personal and individual interests for the good and interests of the nation as whole. The GNU ushered in the most conducive political economy and environment that our country needed at that time, when the country was emerging from the severe economic meltdown that had culminated in hyper-inflation.
It is unfortunate that political interests overwhelmed those that were in leadership by then, at the expense of the country, so much that the economic and political gains that had been achieved during the short-lived GNU were ignored and later on to be wiped out. My argument is that the past political economy failed to seize the opportunity that the GNU had ushered in for the country. As it has been indicated in the past, the country’s GDP had significantly grown during the GNU era, and politically the country experienced some degree of stability.
It is unfortunate that both major political parties in the country focused much on the 2013 national elections that were to come, as the economy was quickly sliding back into regression. The 2013 national elections came and as usual, they failed to usher in any positive development for the good of the country’s economy.
But these elections have presented us with another opportunity to show we can transform the economy. However, why am I bringing this issue? I am simply tracing in my opinion, how Zimbabweans have demonstrated in the past that they are capable of working together if they want to do so.
In conclusion, my argument is, why can’t this post-election era see the ushering in of a new political economic transformation in the country where the winning political party forms a Government, whose mandate is focusing on the resuscitation of the country’s economy and economic development.
Dr Bongani Ngwenya is based at UKZN as a post-doctoral Research Fellow and can be contacted at [email protected]
