LAST year we began from Ground Zero, we began to rebuild our country.
After years of being hammered by the illegal sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies, which crippled our economy came the Inclusive Government, a horrible creature that did not help as it was a cosmetic measure.
Its proponents would want to vaunt it as a time of ‘sweetness’ but it was a period of stagnation.
The bickering and pulling in different directions by actors and actresses in the set-up saw the country never moving forward.
And then came the resounding success of ZANU PF in the harmonised elections in July 2013, a victory that has ushered hope and a declaration for meaningful development.
Already mega deals have been signed by the Russians and Chinese and many of the agreements are in the process of being implemented.
The Kariba South Hydro Power Station (300MW), Hwange Thermal Power Station expansion (600MW) and Gwai-Shangani Thermal Power Station (600MW) are set to be completed by 2018 with the assistance of the Chinese.
As a nation we have no reason to be despondent.
We are work in progress.
We are definitely not in reverse, but moving forward.
As the year begins we must seize it with all the optimism we can muster.
We make no apologies for who we are as a nation and how we are driving our development agenda.
After more than a decade of battering the economy will not be resuscitated in a few months or a year that is a reality and a truth we must accept.
But efforts to right, to correct and to erect working systems that will improve our livelihood are ongoing.
Let us not pine for a time in which we had nothing, what we must do is continue to work hard in this period where all has been given us, where opportunities abound for the innovative.
This year we continue building and we are definitely not at Ground Zero.
The steps we have made might appear to some insignificant, but they are not.
We have made crucial steps and we are not looking back, we will not be regressing.
We are more excited, fired up and still bubbling with confidence about our prospects as a nation.
We continue to carry our age old resolutions, resolutions birthed eons ago, resolutions imprinted in our DNA.
Resolutions to continue to be a self-determining people, a successful people in all arenas social and economic.
The eyes that have seen an ocean cannot be satisfied by a mere lagoon and some of us, in our farms and pieces of fertile land and small businesses have been to the ocean.
We will not be satisfied until we are thriving in the driving seats of the big businesses.
We refuse to accept lies drilled in us that we are an inferior people that are not capable of running their affairs.
I will say what I have said many times and will continue to say, we must be a confident people, we have the capacity and skills to make it on our own.
The hardships we are presently facing must not make us lose heart for they will come to pass.
Better times are coming and might be upon us sooner than we anticipate.
We will work and respect those who want to work and respect us.