President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s special advisor Christopher Mutsvangwa has said Zimbabweans should give President Emmerson Mnangagwa time to outline his economic recovery policies on which he should then be judged.
Attacks on the President, who is barely 10 days in office, were premature and unfair, he said.President Mnangagwa was sworn in on November 24 as the country’s second Executive President following a dramatic end to former President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule.
“Leave our President alone. Give him a chance. He means well for Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe are solidly behind him. Please do not try him before he has even started. Don’t condemn him before he has even started,” said Mutsvangwa during an address to the Mashonaland West provincial coordinating committee meeting yesterday.
Mutsvangwa, who has been nominated as Special Advisor to the President, said President Mnangagwa’s main focus would be reviving a stricken economy.
“We cannot have a country of people without any purpose because the economy is not providing them with opportunities which they want. The focus of the President, immediately, is how to revive this economy. That is where his attention is focused on,” he said.
He said the sacrifices of all people – past and present – in the liberation movements were not only for the flag, a leader or party, but to develop a prosperous country.
The current focus was to develop the country into the best destination for business in the world, which in turn would grow the economy and better livelihoods, he said.
“The route which we have taken is the route of wealth, the route of money, prosperity and building a model African country, which no other African has ever done. The route of having an economy that grows at a rate of 10, 15, 20 percent per annum for the next 10 to 20 years,” said Mutsvangwa.
The country will witness the construction of skyscrapers and highways anchored on judicious exploitation of the country’s mineral wealth.
He said smelting plants would be set up along the Great Dyke to contribute to the country’s economy through production of steel.
The opposition, Mutsvangwa said, had not raised a finger when G40 was taking root in the country, only to find their voice to criticise the new administration. G40 is a group of politicians reportedly fronted by the former First Lady Grace Mugabe to fight then Vice President Mnangagwa.
Turning to the new Cabinet, Mutsvangwa said the President had reached out to the opposition, but MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai insisted on seconding people of his choice.
The war veterans leader said Mnangagwa, who is fulfilling ZANU-PF’s mandate, had identified people in the opposition he thought he could work with.
Mr Tsvangirai, however, proposed his own list.
“In setting up Government, President Mnangagwa is using the mandate that former president Mugabe got in 2013. He has not secured his own. He is waiting for his own mandate in 2018,” said Mutsvangwa.
“He (President Mnangagwa) said he wanted some people from the MDC to assist him as the person who has the mandate, but the MDC, through their leader Tsvangirai, turned around and said he wanted to give him people of his choice.”
This, he said, scuppered plans to co-opt people into Government from the opposition as they were threatened with expulsion.
The move to include the opposition was informed by the unity shown when thousands of Zimbabweans across the political, racial and ethnic divide marched in support of the intervention of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces which forced then President, Mugabe, to resign.
Blocking President Mnangagwa from selecting people of his choice proved to be the deal breaker, said Mu- tsvangwa.
“To block someone with a mandate to fish from the opposition ranks to form Government when you lost in 2013 was too much. They were intruding on the mandate of the President,” said Mutsvangwa.
As a result, he said, some sections of the media had changed stance and started vilifying President Mnangagwa as a failure when he spent only a week in office.
Added Mutsvangwa: “I am saying this because all the papers have started attacking the new President. He is being judged in 37 hours more than someone who has been in power for 37 years.”-state media
2 Replies to “Mutsvangwa: Give President Mnangagwa Some Time”
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Dr Khame Nkrumah said “Seek ye first the political kingdom and the rest will follow.”
What he meant was simple and clear enough; it is only when the people have a meaningful political say that they can force those in power to share out the economic wealth fairly. Before independence Mugabe and his cronies sort to wrestle political power from the white. But as soon as they were in power they have usurped the ordinary people’s political power to hold the regime to account.
Zimbabweans are today back to where we were before independence fighting for a meaningful say in the governance of the country as the first step to securing our other political freedoms and economic rights.
So Mugabe and his friends had no problem understanding Nkrumah when they were seeking power but only after they got into power they now believe one does not need political power.
Mutsvangwa is choosing to have a short memory. The army, police and war vets fought tooth and nail to crush anybody who tried to raise a finger to remove Mugabe