Mnangagwa needs to introspect on Vision 2030

Questions abound about the myriad social, economic, political and environmental challenges in Zimbabwe and the region as a whole.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also the chairman of Sadc, faces such migraine-related challenges in the period around 2030 and beyond.

Questions abound about the myriad social, economic, political and environmental challenges in Zimbabwe and the region as a whole.

His 2030 vision must be extended to the entire Sadc region so that a number of problems can be largely resolved without any debilitating drawbacks.

His legacy stems from his successes in office. His history and great work are the result of reflection on what prevented the 2020 vision from reaching the ground.

Zimbabwe had quite a few vision plans, strategies and initiatives.

The only good that has not been achieved is Vision 2020, which was talked about in the early 1980s, the Structural Adjustment Program, the Zambezi water supply and managed agriculture for a decade.

For people to believe in the president’s vision for 2030, his reflections must include an explanation of what the problem of failed visions under the government of the late Robert Mugabe in the years 1980–2017 could have been.

Vision 2020 wasted money in the plans and yet it did not bring even a drop of success. The president must take the risk of taking up this challenge while moving along the road of Vision 2030.

Vision 2020 became impossible due to factors that still exist today. These are areas of black rock that the president must latch onto and focus on to make adjustments for the good of the nation. Vision 2030 has been weakened by economic and political factors.

Vision 2030 addresses old and new challenges. Such challenges must first be looked at in a broader spectrum.

In short, the country has failed to implement its vision and plans so far. It fell into economic crisis, stagnation and the pitfalls of failure.

Vision 2030 must be separated from the pitfalls of the past with economic plans that never came to light.

This is the Economic Structural Adjustment Program. The failure of the above plan reversed the expected benefits of Vision 2020.

Therefore, it is necessary for the president to work on introspective economic budgets of individual countries.

Such a responsible move must be accompanied by national indicators for assessing accountability. These are orientation arrows that must somehow indicate where the errors are in what we are doing. Where corrections are needed, they should be made.

At the same time, national transparency and visionary initiatives need to focus on what needs to be done, what are the problems and challenges? Where is the dark side of the economic development story? Transparency removes dirt stains, scars and the unacceptable.

Although Mnangagwa has never been involved in corruption scandals, he knows where things fall apart in this country.

While Vision 2020 was being implemented, planned and passed through dust and stones, Kumbirai Kangai, who was appointed Minister of Agriculture, sold huge tons of maize to Malawi in 1990, leaving the granaries for less for the people of Zimbabwe.

This scandal gave Kangai the worst-managed position, automatically depriving him of space and ministerial position. Tobias Takavarasha, then permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, appeared in court in the case.

Corruption leading to economic collapse is an area that the president must look at critically as he makes new recommendations for new policies and stringent laws to punish and imprison those found guilty.

If Zimbabwe followed China’s strict laws to punish corrupt activities, corruption could one day disappear

Asian countries have moved up a notch to become the fastest-growing economies, leading the world’s top 10, as they have taken a strong stance on corruption.

Given its long history of corruption, Zimbabwe can undoubtedly be praised for its accountability, transparency and credibility.

Apart from seeing and taking a stand and using censorship measures like Asian countries, Zimbabwe may have its own Afrocentric ways of fighting corruption. These may be actions aimed at increasing current penalties.

One of the most damaging challenges facing Vision 2030

The disturbing problem is that Zimbabwe does not treat corrupt people to the same standard. Very influential people deemed corrupt are omitted.

Sometimes it turns out that people close to the case feel pain. At most, they are protected by very top people.

A good example is Henrietta Rushwaya, who was caught at Robert Mugabe airport with 5 kg of gold.

Some issues go under the carpet, a problem that will continue to block the future success of programs designed to bring us closer to the vision and national spotlight towards economic development.

There are round bullet cases, some still at large, committed by Zanu PF members and supporters.

Many of these scandals and the people associated with them cost huge amounts of money. Therefore, it is advisable to take Mnangagwa to learn about his liability for losses resulting from subsidy corruption.

For reasons of responsibility, it is important and responsible to summarize and audit which part of society, the political party, was the most corrupt and to what extent, when and in what way it was embezzled.

However, Zanu PF would lead such responsible search investigations.

This tells us that the president faces a difficult task in getting rid of the who’s who of scandals.

Mnangagwa as Sadc must behave well and dip into his pocket properly to account for every cent.

This says more about his family, if they were ever involved, close allies and other Zanu PF heavyweights who must be held accountable with a harsh sentence.

Beyond all that I have presented, there remains a lot of open knowledge.

A question of justice in finding justice for wrongful defendants.

In many countries struggling to establish democracy, a human rights code and the pursuit of justice and rights, the so-called big pers, wealthy people do not face perfect verdicts in the courts.

To some extent, this is such a big problem that we have failed to restore common sense and eliminate corruption.

In the face of the adversities of climate change, food security remains a key factor to be reckoned with.

El Nino has caused more damage on top of the economic challenges African countries face.

Zimbabwe is one such example

Other sectors such as healthcare and education top the charts. Sectors such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing and tourism are worth looking at.

Mnangagwa needed to be clear about our goals as a nation.

There are areas where we have been lacking strength for some time.

Therefore, as a country, it is important to focus on the sectors where we want to take more action and win by the end of the day.

People sometimes deceive themselves. If you look at the development of road infrastructure, the answer may be wrong about the implementation of the vision.

The question, then, is how the nation will realize this vision.

The current government will never admit defeat because it is satisfied with what it has achieved. It is people who draw conclusions about how to implement the vision in victory.

• Mpofu is a journalist and academic – (email protected)
• These weekly articles are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, Independent Consultant, Managing Consultant of Zawale Consultants (Private) Limited, former President of the Zimbabwe Economics Society and former President of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute of Zimbabwe. E-mail – (e-mail protected) or mobile phone number +263 772 382 852

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