A NEW Year and the same old story: ‘Chaos looms as Zim burns’ ran a headline in the Daily News.
The difference this time is the removal of the anticipated uprising matrix from the fractured opposition, placing it in the hands of the masses.
But such has been the nature of the so-called ‘independent media’ in their calls for civil strife, an uncanny propensity to agitate for the ‘shutdown’ of Zimbabwe and with it, regime change.
Yet Zimbabwe remains stubborn, remaining steadfastly on its feet; refusing to be cowed by a hostile economic environment wrought by sanctions targeting the coveted State House chair.
While it is true that the Government is going through a cash crunch that has seen it failing to pay civil servants on time, this surely cannot develop into a crisis that would result in calls for mass protests.
Salaries and bonuses for civil servants will come as promised.
Yet the biggest challenge emanates from some elements within the ruling ZANU PF Party.
Here are individuals with no proven history of dedication and commitment to Zimbabwe’s cause but are now bent on causing anarchy among citizens and investors alike.
Driven by malice and a foolish sense of pride, they distort history as part of their anti-President Robert Mugabe and anti-Zimbabwe project.
2015 was a year in which the country made significant inroads in attracting investors and investments but some individuals are destroying the strides through reckless, malicious and damaging utterances on platforms such as the internet, but Zimbabwe will not fail on the back of this mischief.
This is a year of Zimbabwe’s economic boom.
And the year has started on a positive note.
This week a high powered Chinese delegation comprising members from the People’s Bank of China, Communist Party of China, Qingdao Overseas Investment Centre and Qingdao Bureau of Commerce arrived in the country to explore opportunities in various sectors.
Already the first major deal of the year has been signed between a local company, Meriwell Investment, and a Chinese bus manufacturing company, Zhuhai Graton and Bus Coaches.
The US$10 million deal will result in the setting up of a bus assembling plant in Zimbabwe.
Most importantly, Government has put in place measures to allow for accelerated implementation of projects and deals agreed on last year.
Late last year Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda announced that the first 100-Day Rapid Results Action Plan that began on September 11 2014 had scored major successes.
Among the milestones are a reduction in the number of days it takes to register a property from 36 to 14 days while the amount of time it takes to pay taxes has been reduced from 242 to 160 hours.
Other reforms include amending of the Companies Act, Shop Licensing Act and reducing the number of days it takes to register a business from 30 to between 10 and 15 days.
Aliko Dangote, that Nigerian billionaire will testify to this compelling fact that Zimbabwe is now the place to be and to do business.
He is coming in the next few weeks to kick-start his operations in a Zimbabwe that is said to be facing the ominous blight of chaos.
Then there are Chinese deals signed in December 2015 between Presidents Mugabe and Xi Jinping worth US$4 billion set to take off this year.
A Zimbabwe in ‘chaos’ cannot expect the implementation of the Hwange Units 7 and 8 expansion!
The deal is worth US$1, 3 billion and together with the expansion of the Kariba South Power Station by Sino-Hydro and the recently signed Bulawayo Thermal Power Station deal through a US$87 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of India the power shortages bedeviling the country will soon be over.
Not to be outdone are the Indians who are said to have, through one of the world’s largest engineering firm Kirloska Brothers, signed a US$30 million deal that will see the rehabilitation of ZINWA pump stations.
Modalities for the Kirloska deal are currently on the table and implementation is set to be rolled out this first quarter of the year.
Several other deals from India are in the offing.
It is not difficult to comprehend from the foregoing why there are spirited efforts to galvanise the masses to take to the streets and confront Government.
This is because ZANU PF has managed to cultivate a formidable bond with the masses who have stood by the revolutionary party since the days of colonialism.
It is this bond that makes ZANU PF tick.
Put simply, ZANU PF is the people and the people are ZANU PF.
Even in Western corridors, there is a resigned and reluctant consensus that ZANU PF is here to stay, which explains why the papers they fund and support in the country are now taking the anti-Government initiative from the blunt opposition to the masses.
Any talk of chaos in Zimbabwe is a tale told to kindergarten children to lull them to sleep.
In Zimbabwe, progressive minds do not sleep, they work for their country.
Let those with ears listen.