The Sunday News
Limukani Ncube
In a journal titled “The Economics of Pre and Post-Independence African Economy and the Possibilities of Mainstreaming Meles’s Developmental State Ideologies”, Samuel Kidane examines the economies of African countries before and after independence.
He says before one embarks on the venturesome task of trying to assess the economics of post- independence African economy, it is worth to discuss the interplay of politics and economics. He says after successfully fighting colonialism, leaders of independent Africa unanimously asserted that, the political decolonisation will remain meaningless unless it results in a corresponding breakthrough in economic independence and a rise in the standard of living of the people.
Indeed, political independence also presented Africans with an opportunity to control their own resources and benefits that had previously gone to their rulers or the ex-metropolitans.
“Batten on his part noted that, the only road to permanent economic independence was based on real political independence. Hence of all other issues, however, what one should ask, like Cown does, economic decolonisation is as important as political decolonisation and is much more difficult to achieve. Moreover, how Africa was ready for changes particularly in the area of economy and leadership requires the formulation of pertinent economic policies and above all the coming to power of committed leadership.”
There is ample literature on the interplay of politics and economics. The two are heavily dependent on one another.
While politics and the gun won independence in Africa and in Zimbabwe in particular, the pursuit for economic independence became the next target to be achieved.
As we celebrate the day of our independence this week, we sing and dance while in the middle of a push for further economic independence following President Mnangagwa’s elevation to the highest office in the land.
We celebrate the day of our independence well aware of that the battle at hand is making sure that the lives of the people are made better, and the future of the young generation is secured economically.
We celebrate this important day well aware that the past cannot be undone, but the future is in our hands, and every patriotic Zimbabwean, locally and abroad, has a role to play. And there is no better way of doing so than in supporting President Mnangagwa’s vision for a better Zimbabwe.
Moreover, President Mnangagwa has set the tone and hit the ground running in that direction.
We remember one of his first speeches when he took charge, when he addressed the ruling party’s 107th Central Committee meeting in Harare ahead of the Zanu-PF Extraordinary congress in December.
He said the ruling party was in a new era that should see party cadres dumping toxic politics and concentrating on bread and butter issues. He said every party cadre should “now think, sleep, dream and walk productivity”, bearing in mind that the best politics emerges from the market place.
“We will not be able to accomplish much for as long as our sense of party work remains hidebound in the old template of looking at Zanu-PF as about politics, politics and politics only . . . Let us recognise that the best politics emerges from the market place where livelihoods are made. Productivity at all levels must be religiously encouraged, not only at a national level but at a disaggregated ward, district and provincial level . . .”
The President then followed up his words with an action plan that has seen him and Government engaging the world on the political and business front to resuscitate the economy and smoke the peace pipe with those whom the country did not see eye to eye because of political differences during the Robert Mugabe era.
The new Government has brought in a new era, a new thinking and a buffet of opportunities for all and sundry by removing many policies that had become stumbling blocks for economic growth. President Mnangagwa has been able to change the indigenisation law, leaving the 51-49 rule applying to diamond and platinum mining only, and among others initiatives, signed into law the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Act. In addition, the police that over-manned our roads are no longer there.
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, over 60 heads of state and foreign news organisations requested to meet the Zimbabwe’s new administration. A number of big economies like Britain, China, USA, Germany and France, among others, and the whole of Africa has pledged to work with the President Mnangagwa Government to make sure that Zimbabwe becomes a world of milk and honey once more.
In addition, the European Union, African Union and Sadc have also praised Zimbabwe’s new path. A huge number of multi-national corporations have also been to the country to scout for business opportunities and last week, the Dangote Group, a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, sent a delegation to the country to negotiate business proposals, a clear sign that President Mnangagwa’s war cry that “Zimbabwe is open for business” is making the right waves.
The war of liberation was fought so as to ensure that the black majority also had access to land, after colonial policies such as the Land Apportionment Act (1930) — one of the most brutal pieces of legislation by the colonial regime — meant to subjugate and impoverish the black majority by stealing land and their belongings like cattle from them and giving it to the minority white settlers.
The Land Reform by the Zimbabwean government at the turn of the new millennium was meant to correct that anomaly, and when President Mnangagwa came to power, he assured the world that the land reform will not be reversed, as apart from fighting for self-rule, the war of liberation was meant to give land back to its rightful owners.
By making sure that people enjoy full rights over their land (and wealth under that land), the Government is also giving everyone a chance to contribute to the country’s economic recovery by tilling the land, be it at peasant or commercial level. As we celebrate the country’s 38th Independence Anniversary, we sing the song we have been taught by President Mnangagwa “Zimbabwe is open for business”.
Zimbabwe turns 38 on Wednesday. It’s a new era without Robert Mugabe at the helm. It’s a new era with a new political slogan that puts economic recovery at the pinnacle of the national interest.
