The Zimbabwean government has been to advised to cut back on rhetoric and focus on real action.
Stefan Oswald, the director-general for Sub Saharan Africa in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) said that he cannot convince anyone to invest in Zimbabwe as there has been no meaningful action taken on the ground.
Addressing journalists attending the International Journalists Programme winter school on Thursday, Oswald said:
The lyrics of the new Zimbabwe government are perfect, but what counts is to move from lyrics to action.
Otherwise, I cannot convince anybody over here to re-engage with Zimbabwe, and that is something which is really important.
In principle, the programmes presented by the President and his new Cabinet are good, but making it happen to convince us also that they are really serious about it is the difference we can talk about.
You can write nice papers, but if the political will is not there to really make it happen, there is a problem.
The President has to go into discussion with those who brought him into power because the military is having a strong rule and they are not reform-minded.
Stefan Oswald’s opinion on zimbabwe could be based on misrepresentations by some elements who are against the current administration. A lot have been happening in terms of walking the talk. The government has done quite a lot on Infrastructure development which is critical for Export and import business.we have seen many roads being refurbished, credit should be given where its due.