By Shepias Dube,
Recently in China

WHILE Zimbabwe’s democratic electoral process was administering the birth of the Second Republic amidst hollow bickering from misguided opposition elements, the new dispensation continued with its audacious efforts of bringing the country back onto the development trajectory.
On July 31, and with the ink still fresh on people’s fingers, 50 Government officials found themselves on a long trip to the People’s Republic of China as relations between Zimbabwe and the Asian giant continue to flourish.
The 50 officials drawn from the ministries of Youth, Women Affairs, Transport, Local Government, Higher and Tertiary Education as well as the Civil Service Commission were to attend a Bilateral Seminar on Youth Employment and Development.
The seminar, itself a testimony of the bilateral co-operation between Zimbabwe and China in the area of human capital development, sought to empower participants with both theoretical and practical appreciation of China development experiences.
Indeed, as articulated by the outgoing Chinese Ambassador in Zimbabwe, Cde Huang Ping, at a farewell luncheon, the seminar was an opportunity for Zimbabweans to learn how to combat poverty and drive this great nation to prosperity.
And so, in between 15 comprehensive lectures from Chinese renowned intellectuals and economists, seven site visits to various economic units, six cultural site visits, five exchange meetings and indeed the remarkable Chinese adoration and hospitality, several life changing lessons were learnt.
The Chinese story teaches us that development is not an overnight event but a long process involving sacrifice and hard work.
The glory and splendour that is China today is a product of cumulative reforms spanning four decades beginning with the glasnost-perestroika polices of 1978 up to the modernity agenda being vigorously pursued by the present day leadership in Beijing.
Likewise, Zimbabwe’s development trajectory started to positively change after ‘Operation Restore Legacy’ and continue to prosper under the Second Republic.
However, these are just two significant steps in the long journey ahead.
To assume that the Second Republic can bring economic stability, let alone growth, in its two months is unrealistic and even unfair to ourselves.
The Chinese experience also teaches us that without a shared and clear national vision, no country can liberate itself from the shackles of poverty and backwardness.
China wants to eradicate poverty by 2023, reach modernity by 2040, with the ultimate goal of dislodging the US as the world leading economy in the near future.
Already with the GDP of over
US$15 trillion dollars and sitting on over US$3 trillion dollars in currency reserves, the Asian giant is swiftly ascending to the throne.
This has been made possible by the amazing unity of purpose shared by the over 1,4 billion Chinese; from members of the academia to captains of industry, from civil servants manning government ministries to vendors and cyclists around Pearl Market.
All are in support of the government in its pursuit for better dreams.
It is unfortunate Zimbabwe, with a population three times smaller than our host Fujian Province, which has over 36 million people, can hardly pull in one direction.
But now that the election season is over, it’s high time we sacrifice self-aggrandisement and partisanship for the advancement of the broader national agenda.
The much talked about economic turnaround cannot be achieved by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube alone.
It is the responsibility of all Zimbabweans – man, woman and child.
The Chinese are disciplined, patriotic and hardworking.
Their zeal and determination to defeat poverty and unemployment is seen in the field as they convert obstacles into stepping stones.
My countrymen and women, this teaches us that only if everyone strives for a better tomorrow can our efforts be aggregated into a powerful force to realise the national vision.
The youths play a critical role in boosting economic development and their energy needs to be supported and harnessed towards the mainstream economy.
Government should strengthen its current efforts in supporting youth programmes in order to promote the creation of employment by the youth themselves.
The creation of a one-stop-shop youth association is prerequisite for the accelerated inclusion of youth in the mainstream economy.
Such one-stop youth business associations will include various information counters for not only advising the youth on available opportunities but also facilitating the actual participation of the same.
Youths must be firm in national ideals and convictions.
The Youth League of the Communist Party of China (CPC) plays a key vertical integrative role in shaping and standardising these virtues.
Likewise, the ruling ZANU PF party in Zimbabwe, and indeed the Government of Zimbabwe, must ensure that a culture of patriotism and hard work be inculcated in the young people in order to breed a new generation of development oriented youth.
This entails revamping programmes and institutions that promote national ideals such as the Zimbabwe Heritage Trust (ZHT), National Youth Service and the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.
Volunteering programmes must be introduced in the public sector to encourage the youth to work for their country at no cost.
Similarly, programmes where professionals and other experts give mentorship to the youth at no cost should also be institutionalised.
Young people must aim to have both educational and professional competence.
Most of the young Chinese professionals (and lecturers) met at the various companies demonstrated a high level of both craft literacy and competence.
The quality and competence of the youth will have a direct influence on the course of realising a nation’s aspirations. This is well-phrased in the ancient Chinese saying: ‘Learning is the bow, while competence is the arrow’.
There is a need for the Government to give dedicated support to the establishment of companies run by the youth where creativity and innovation will be central.
Young people must be devoted to hard work.
This includes devotion to volunteer work.
From poverty to prosperity, weakness to strength, China has been able to progress step-by-step over centuries, thanks to the tenacity of one generation after another, the nation’s spirit of constant self-improvement through hard work and to the country’s political stability.
If we are to achieve our socio-economic development goals, the youths must work long and hard.
This is summed up in the popular Chinese saying which goes: ‘Empty talk harms the country, while hard work makes it flourish’.
After criss-crossing China – from Beijing, the capital, to Fuzhou the hometown of the incumbent president (Xi Jinping), to the historic city of Quanzhou and Xiamen, Asia’s most romantic city, then back to Beijing – it was time to go back home, to beautiful Zimbabwe.
In his farewell address, the Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, Cde Paul Chikawa reminded us how fortunate we were to be the first Government officials to visit China under the Second Republic, a Government pregnant with hope for a brighter future.
He signed off with the famous Latin phase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar: “Somebody once said ‘I came; I saw; I conquered’, but I say you came, you saw, now your obligation is to go back and implement what you have learnt for the development of our country.”
And with these wise words ringing in our marble vaults, we took the next flight home!