IT has not taken long for President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to show why he was resented by the G40 cabal despite all his good showing in steering the country from the economic mess that it is in.
In just two months, the country has started to enjoy the feel-good factor that had eluded it for decades, thanks to the reform agenda that President Mnangagwa’s administration has unleashed on the economic front.
There is more to come.
When the journey started for President Mnangagwa on November 24 2017, the idea was to do away with politicking.
All eyes have been on Zimbabwe since the historic events of November last year for a reason.
The country is full of potential that has yet to be tapped and exploited.
That potential, for long the talk of the globe, had been enmeshed in senseless politicking and inane bickering.
We had some characters who became recklessly imbued with the weird, bizarre thought the country was a personal property.
They are back in town.
Not that they pose any threat to the new administration; they are simply noisy characters who will embark on a treacherous path of tarnishing the country’s image in a futile bid to make it a pariah state again.
Events in the past week buttress the assertion that, indeed, a week is a long time in politics.
And politics is good if pursued from a point of honesty by truthful people.
This is why the statement below by Bill Gindlesperger taken off his May 6 2016 Public Opinion article titled ‘Politics is about how many friends, not enemies, you can make’, is apt to what is happening in Zimbabwe at the moment.
“All of us are neck deep in politics every day of our lives. Every organisation on earth that involves human beings has its politics. Politics does not have to be a bad thing. Actually politics can be a good thing when we bring people to the table to sit down, work together, compromise and get things done for the common good.”
The kind of leadership and politics that the new dispensation is providing is an embracing one.
It has an open-door policy where all views are tolerated.
Last week’s visit to Zimbabwe by British Minister for Africa for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, Harriett Baldwin, represents many issues that both Harare and London had overlooked in the 20-year ‘cold war’.
Harare forgot that when you borrow you pay back your dues, an issue that President Mnangagwa is very much seized with.
On the other hand, London forgot that the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme was not a negotiable issue.
It was about correcting historical imbalances that emanated from colonialism.
As frosty relations begin to show signs of thawing, it is everyone’s hope that this will be done on the basis of mutual respect and to the satisfaction of everyone concerned with the issue.
Madame Baldwin’s statement, after meeting with President Mnangagwa on Friday last week, is welcome:
“I am pleased that my first overseas trip as minister has been to Zimbabwe. The historic events the country has experienced over the last few months have created an opportunity to strengthen UK-Zimbabwe relations as part of a wider process of international engagement. I have seen for myself that Zimbabwe is a country of enormous potential.”
Let the newly found alliance bring the much needed results.
Dalliance with the ‘Alliance’!
So, the disgraced G40, now widely believed to be led by none other than Joice Mujuru, believe they can cause an upset to the country’s political arena?
They have made a false start on all fronts.
First, it was Mujuru’s meeting with former President Cde Robert Mugabe which was supposed to take the glitter away from Minister Baldwin’s visit.
That failed dismally.
Then there was this unsigned petition by an outfit which clearly is a reincarnation of the nonconformist G40.
Through a political outfit calling itself New Patriotic Front (NPF), G40 has sent a 79-page document to the AU and SADC through a Johannesburg-based lawyer, Marius van Niekerk.
They want the regional and continental bodies to not recognise the current leadership, claiming that they are an ‘illegitimate’ grouping.
This is despite that it was only last week that the AU embraced President Mnangagwa and hailed the peaceful and smooth transition that took place in the country last year.
Zimbabwe going forward
In the coming few days, there shall be the unveiling of massive economic deals that will transform the country.
During that period, we shall witness an escalation of anti-Zimbabwe rhetoric by the furious G40 cabal, in particular its kingpin Jonathan Moyo.
They shall lie about many things.
They shall go all out to attack President Mnangagwa and his Government.
But all that will be in vain as it is now one way for Zimbabwe.
The country is headed for better times and big things await the people of Zimbabwe.
When all is said and done, one fact remains; that Zimbabwe is back.
It is onwards and upwards.
Let those with ears listen.