THERE is this ignorant, yet damaging illusion being spread by regime change agents that the economy of this country can only come back on track after giving a certain Nelson Chamisa the keys to State House.
They have got it all wrong.
What they are failing to tell the people is that this very economy we are worried about was ruined mainly by illegal economic sanctions imposed at the invitation of Chamisa’s MDC.
This is what former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker meant when he said they would make our economy ‘scream’, thereby inducing the electorate to vote against ZANU PF.
What he didn’t know was that the liberation war had made Zimbabweans value their sovereignty despite hardships.
That is why there was this misplaced confidence by Chamisa, the imperialists’ surrogate, that he would beat President Mnangagwa at the recent polls.
Of course their dislike for former liberation movements is well documented.
Indeed the main item contesting parties sought to convince the electorate to be voted for into power at the recent general elections was on how to resuscitate the economy.
It was not surprising that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s message won him the elections.
But as he set out to fulfill his promise, he warned the electorate that there would be no gain without pain.
Rescuing the economy from the ravages of sanctions would require sacrifice by eventual beneficiaries
And this would not be overnight.
This is contrary to the misleading and simplistic false message giving the impression that Chamisa had mysterious powers to bring about an economic miracle.
President Mnangagwa’s Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has already hit the ground running.
Simple things which may be painful have to be done.
For a start, we don’t have enough foreign currency.
The little forex that we get as individuals is often used to import luxuries instead of embarking on projects that will help us generate more foreign currency.
Our dependency on imports is sometimes baffling.
Why should we import wheat and other agricultural items with such vast areas of ideal land?
The challenge is on the Agriculture Ministry to see to it that we become net exporters and not importers.
The challenge is also extended to the Mines Ministry, where value addition should see us exporting finished products instead of importing expensive finished products from our own minerals.
We do not support our own finished products.
Elsewhere in this edition, we carry a story on how Rwanda is successfully discouraging the sale of imported second-hand clothes.
Instead of Statutory Instrument 64, Government is urged to incentivise local production of such items from South Africa.
Subsidies might be appropriate to make pricing competitive.
The recent monetary and fiscal policies are meant to fix the economy by increasing the Government’s tax base and boosting of the foreign currency inflows.
The pain will be worth it if we are assured of eventual gain.
We want to see the economy transform and grow even if it means biting the bullet.
The folly that Chamisa’s metamorphosis from student activism to national politics will do the trick should be dismissed.