PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is a visionary and a doer.

He has Zimbabwe at heart.

He has not discriminated, he has not ostracised, he has not shut out anyone, including those who have sought to destroy us. 

He has listened, he has been to every doorstep across the country.

He has shown and demonstrated that solutions to the country’s problems can never be found in heavy-handedness and destruction.

President Mnangagwa is a big man, a stalwart of the liberation struggle, a pioneer of the armed struggle, a high ranking Government official for a long time and a successful farmer.

But he has cast aside his ego and sought ways to end the suffering of the masses.

He has dreamt a life of abundance and greater good for his people.

And in the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans is Zimbabwe, its future, where we are going.

And the plan in place, and action, points to a future we all want.

Many of us had been forced into our shells until the Second Republic drew people out, led them to reflect on what was truly important and renewed our purpose.

We now see clearly the trajectory we are taking; we know our priorities.

Indeed, our vision had been blurred.

There had been so much dust raised by anger, hatred, greediness, petty jealousies and cruelty, among other vices.

But in the new dispensation, corrective procedures have been performed.

And now we see clearly.

And it’s no wonder things like calls for stay aways now fall on deaf ears.

“The paradox for Zimbabwe is that the majority have been able to detect, recognise and reject the political agenda of neo-liberalism because of the form which this has assumed; an agenda to remove the Government as a liberation movement in power and to wipe away its whole legacy coercively and unconstitutionally,” says Dr Tafataona Mahoso.

“Even the most ardent supporters of the MDC (CCC) now admit that this party’s claim to represent democracy, transparency, accountability, human rights and common decency was a sham.”  

It is now a truth universally acknowledged that the MDC, rebranded to CCC, is a party whose hallmark is intolerance, violence, anti-Africanism, self-hatred and double standards. 

It is now common knowledge that the industrial stay aways and so-called ‘final pushes’ were heavily subsidised and supported by the same forces in industry and finance who bank-rolled the then MDC.

The phenomenon of ‘staying away’ is a luxury once enjoyed, but one we can no longer afford.

It worked in the old economy, but it will not work now in the new economy because it is self-destructive.

Whites and others who owned the means of production, having owned them for at least 100 years, could afford to pay workers while no actual production took place.

But now we own the means of production and since we have barely begun to be productive, ‘staying away’ will only hurt us, destroy our businesses in the nascent stages.

No woman or man in his or her right senses will ‘stay away’ from his or her operation because there are problems.

It will be the height of foolishness to allow our businesses to crumble because there are problems — we solve them.

In the new dispensation, we are not leaving the task of seeking solutions to problems that affect us to others.

Thus, calls to ‘stay away’ become reckless; they are no different from the ostrich that hides its head in the sand as danger approaches.

This is our economy and it is the duty of every citizen to make it work.

What regime change outfits like Team Pachedu fail to realise is that there has been a paradigm shift, a change in the way we have operated, a change of the ‘software’ in our heads.

We are no longer mere employees, but owners of the means of production and we must begin to think as such.

Ownership comes with responsibilities.

The new dispensation has so far concentrated on achieving specific economic and social goals.

Vision 2030, re-engagement, debt-repayment and debt-clearance, together with the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, are programmes that have been implemented and major successes recorded.

The idea of trying to force the removal of a democratically elected Government through stay aways and demonstrations is something which has been rejected unreservedly by the peace loving people of Zimbabwe. 

The whole concept of stay aways is ridiculous in our country.

After being empowered, most people are self-employed.

And so they are expected to stay away from their operations?

Who suffers when a kombi driver is denied his commission for the day after parking his vehicle in response to calls by characters like Team Pachedu?

What about those entrepreneurs at Mupedzanhamo, Glenview 8 and many other such centres?

The vegetable, airtime and other vendors, who will all these people be ‘fixing’ if they don’t go to work?

We are no longer mere employees, but owners of the means of production.

Most important is that we all know the why, the what and the how of our circumstances — a West hellbent on regime change, a US and UK determined to ouster the revolutionary Party.