President Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged Zimbabweans to remain hopeful and steadfast saying that Vision 2030 remains alive despite the coronavirus pandemic that has resulted in the closure of countries worldwide.
He made the remarks in his 2020 independence speech to celebrate Zimbabwe’s 40th independence.
The president added that although the country’s friends and foreign investors are essential in the attainment of the country’s envisioned future, collective efforts of locals remain significant.
He also urged Zimbabweans to “scale up dialogue among each other to harness our abilities, competences, skills and resources.”
Mnangagwa also said that achieving food security remains the country’s key priority adding that the country’s stocks continue to grow as a result of “massive imports” which are meant to avert starvation.
This year’s independence day comes when the country is grappling with coronavirus and has imposed a 21-day lockdown making it impossible to gather at stadiums as was the case each year for the past 39 years.
It also comes when the country’s economy has nosedived, reaching unprecedented levels in the past 10 years.
The country that was once the jewel of Africa, in the words of late Tanzanian president Julius Mwalimu Nyerere, has been reduced to a mere beggar.
More: ZTN
ZIMBABWE has actually been reduced to basket case
Yes! We remain hopeful for a catastrophic disaster.
Mr President, Zimbabweans are hopeful and remain hopeful. Hopeful for what? That the government, your government will act responsibly and perform the tasks entrusted to you by your election (ignoring the doubt about the election results.) . That is, to govern the country with fairness, with justice with the common good in mind. You promised us a new dispensation when you deposed Mugabe; you promised that thnings would change and be done differently. Alas, much has has changed but for the worse. You blame illegal sanctions. Maybe there is an effect on the country as a whole but it pales into insignificance compared to the blantant corruption, self-serving greed of the people at the top. Patronage and boot-licking are rife. Daily we read of the shenanigans of those in power and those close to them abusing the national constitution, the ruling party constitution, the judicial constitution. Yes but we continue to hope for every dictator/tyrant/self-serving government has its day. God will not be confounded. Mr President, you may call for peseverance in hope and for all other bvirtues in your speeches but it is time to walk the talk.
Zimbabwe is nowhere near being independent. ‘Independence’ means being self-sufficient, and we are about the least self-sufficient country in the world, persistently appealing for handouts from the entire world. A shameful disgrace would be a better description after 40 years of destroying everything that was inherited.
If you call 35 years of dictatorship independence and 5 years of delusion independence then yo are so advanced not even an alien space craft could decipher such progress amazing. Pambere ne stupidity and Zhing zhong forever
Ed could set himself on fire if he is not careful that torch in ne stadium was made in china
I’d need a major dose of LSD to get even close to the “hopeful” mentioned here! Perhaps if I sprinkle it liberally inside a “Bob Marley Special”, I might just achieve the same delusional state of mind….