WALTER Mzembi is the latest fallen politician trying to make capital out of the current extended load shedding, but he conveniently turns a blind eye and deaf ear to their sordid record of economic ignorance, financial illiteracy and a propensity to theft of public funds.
By Chris Mutsvangwa
I had a brief jaunt in (the late president Robert) Mugabe’s Cabinet. As a revolutionary cadre exposed to both business and finance at a global level, I was appalled by the cattle herdboy that benighted the likes of Mzembi, (Saviour) Kasukuwere and all.
I kept knocking my head at a coterie of Cabinet Ministers who had zero clue about modern economic trends and requisite management. I distinctly remember suggesting that all households be taken off the baseload thermal and hydro electric grid, stand alone, and non-distributed solar power would replace. That way industry would benefit. Ignorant, they blurted out that solar panels were an expensive option beyond the rich.
In vain I argued that Tel Aviv in Israel had solar rooftops as far back as the end of the last century. That there was an anti-dumping price meltdown as China ramped up photovoltaic at the expense of Europe. In the last 20 years of Mugabe’s rule with his G40s, there was no single serious energy investment as briefcase office pretenders of energy investment creamed off the targeted ZESA parastatal.
Now he has the temerity to opportunistically gripe about a power supply crunch he willfully engendered with his fellow G40 cohorts.
They all got carried away to the brink of political coup driven by illicit escapades. Foppishly he even tried to entice me to their train of debauchery. I just spurned him away.
In a short four years, President Mnangagwa has supervised the construction of three major power stations at Kariba South, Hwange 7 and 8. In addition solar power is cottoning on all over the residences and across the landscape.
Yes, there is the current hiccup. It principally owes to an unprecedented spike in connection demand by booming mining industrial and commercial sectors. The pumping economy is responding to President Mnangagwa’s mantra; Zimbabwe is Open for Business.
This pushed up marginal demand which is outstripping supply. What’s clear is that this is a passing phase. The Kariba Dam will fill up with the promising rainy season. Hwange 7 and 8 are both virtually complete awaiting imminent commissioning.
All said the gloating glee of the Mzembis and fellow G40 detractors is a short lived and passing phase. EDworks will firmly stay on course. It is determined to deliver on prospects of prosperity that Zimbabwe rightly deserves.
Ever since assuming power, President Mnangagwa said he would relentlessly champion economic reform under the rubric Zimbabwe is Open for Business. That is how he would net Chairman Xiang Guangda of Tsingshan Holdings Group. Chairman Xiang, the Steve Jobs of Metals, was at State House in Zimbabwe last week.
The Chinese tycoon of steel, nickel and new energy storage batteries was amplifying his business portfolio to Zimbabwe and Mozambique multi-fold. As a revolutionary businessman we never waste time in rueful gripes about a lost past as we strive to absolve ourselves. We also do not pine to be seen in a better comparative light. Instead, we would rather wish for a bright future for Zimbabwe.
That is why President Mnangagwa is assiduously working on turning Zimbabwe into the global base of steel and base metals metallurgy. Attendant to this indispensable cornerstone of all modern industrialisation.
All other enablers of electricity power, water, logistics-rail, road and ports as well as the sexy telecommunications ensue. Therein lies the differing world views of Zimbabweans in their historical development paths. President Mnangagwa has his priorities right. That’s why he threw away the hindsight handbook of point scoring, excoriation and vindictiveness as he deals or not deal with his erstwhile tormentors and current detractors.
Finally, in politics, economics and business, revolutionary visionaries tend to eschew episodic and feel-good opportunism.
That’s why President EDM shines brilliantly with his lifelong engagement with nearly six decades of the thick and thin of the protracted armed struggle and resultant peacetime pursuit of the permanent Zimbabwe Revolution.
In his rule as the apex leader of Zimbabwe, Comrade Mnangagwa is a complete break with the First President in a holistic dimension. No wonder the populace is eagerly and avidly punting for him with his EDworks agenda.
