Zimbabwe: Celebrating victory over British forces
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007The Herald
April 19, 2007
FULL text of the prepared speech by President Mugabe on the occasion of the 27th Independence Anniversary celebrations held at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, and various provincial centres.
TODAY, the 18th of April 2007 marks the 27th Anniversary of our hard-won Independence and freedom from the shackles of British colonialist and imperialist domination. We celebrate not only our 27th year of sovereignty and self-determination but also our success, our collective success, in repulsing the unending attempts by our erstwhile colonisers and other detractors to disturb our peace, stability and tranquillity. Congratulations Zimbabwe, Congratulations Comrades and Friends, on our refusal to be re-colonised! Let the sound of our Celebrations reach the ears of Britain and her allies, and let them know that we shall never, never, never be a colony again.
This 27th Anniversary demonstrates the victorious spirit of the unity of our people, the unity of a people who know how this country came into being, a people prepared to stand in defence of their country's achievements and future direction. It is this spirit of oneness, the unyielding singleness of purpose which, during the Liberation Struggle, cheered and lifted our gallant patriots to the heights of supreme sacrifice in the name of freedom and sovereignty. These heroes and heroines of the struggle would turn in their graves if today we were to bequeath anything less than full, uncompromised Independence and sovereignty to the future generations of the country. Thus today is a day when we also celebrate our continuing electoral successes and victories over British-sponsored negative forces, however organised.
I wish to applaud the resilience of our people, who have resisted the brazen attempts of our detractors, openly working in cahoots with their shameless local puppets, to reverse the gains of our Independence through their "regime change" agenda. We have observed how of late, this conspiracy has attempted to transform into a militant criminal strain, characterised by the puerile attempts of misguided opposition elements to create a state of anarchy through an orgy of violence. As Government, our message remains clear that we will not hesitate to deal firmly with those elements who are bent on fomenting anarchy.
On the broader socio-economic arena, the economy has continued to be buffeted by seemingly unending waves of price hikes largely prompted by both unbridled greed among some of our businesspersons and by the strategy of our saboteurs. These spates of increases in prices of basic commodities have largely been without justification. The price escalations have eroded the incomes of our people, thereby stirring disquiet across all sectors of the economy. Because price instability adversely affects ordinary consumers and business entities alike, it is imperative that all stakeholders should work together to stem the existing inflationary spiral. We cannot drift along while this vice continues to undermine our economy.
It is on this premise that Government, in conjunction with other social partners, is actively involved in negotiations for the eventual establishment of a Social Contract. Within this framework, Government, business, labour and other key stakeholders are expected to agree on establishing binding protocols that will form the basis of sustainable confidence building and help the planned turnaround of the economy. I would like to commend the unity of purpose so far exhibited by the social partners who are "putting Zimbabwe first".
On another front, Government is also expediting the setting up of the National Incomes and Pricing Commission, which will provide the framework for appropriate pricing of goods and services using well-tested scientific pricing models.
It is hoped that the Incomes and Pricing Commission will be fully operational during this second quarter of 2007. But above all these attempts, is the need for greater production of those commodities in scarce supply in order to more than satisfy demand for them. This is indeed the function of more investment capital, domestic and foreign, hence our Look East policy.
Government continues to accord high priority to poverty reduction and the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In light of this, funds have been allocated to the Rural Capital Development Fund for water and sanitation facilities in various rural districts of the country.
Regrettably, this thrust has once again suffered some setbacks following the drought that affected the Southern African region. However, Government is determined to ensure that none of our people in the affected areas will starve.
Faced by the various challenges that characterise our economy, Government has evolved decisive measures to deal with them through the National Economic Development Priority Programme. The Programme's major objectives are the reduction of inflation, stabilisation of the local currency, ensuring food security, increasing output and productivity, generation of foreign earnings, removal of price distortions and effective policy co-ordination and implementation.
Following the successful implementation of the Land Reform Programme, Government is now focused on raising productivity through the rehabilitation and development of irrigation facilities and provision of inputs such as seed, fertilizer, chemicals and tillage.
In addition to this, Government would like to see agricultural mechanisation assume a very pivotal role as a springboard to greater levels of production. Hence the creation of the new ministry of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanisation.
Measures are being taken in the context of the National Economic Development Priority Programme, to capacitate the local manufacturing industries through injection of foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe so they can produce some of the agricultural equipment we need.
It is my hope that the 2007/2008 agricultural season will see a much better state of our national preparedness.
In order to further boost agricultural production, the development of new crop varieties able to cope with the emerging climatic conditions will continue in earnest. Since Independence, 54 crop varieties have been developed and are now grown widely by our farmers. Furthermore, the Agricultural Extension Worker Programme has, since 2005, successfully trained over 200 graduands, thus significantly reducing the vacancy rate for field extension workers.
Following the launch of the 99-year lease agreements last year, a total of 475 farmers have so far qualified for the leases. The provision of leases as security of tenure, and as collateral in accessing financial borrowings, should in turn improve productivity on the farms.
The Nation's fight to reduce inflation has necessitated measures that address structural and supply constraints to economic production.
Government is currently working on a package of assistance to boost capacity utilisation for certain selected strategic companies critical in the overall economic turnaround programme's contribution to job creation and foreign currency generation.
In the mining sector, the country continues to lose much-needed foreign currency through rampant leakage and smuggling of some of our high value minerals, notably gold and diamonds.
The focus of Government this year will therefore be on ensuring that these nefarious activities are stamped out. In this sector, Government will soon introduce a Bill governing the ownership structures of mining organisations to enhance empowerment and national control.
In our continued general efforts to accelerate the involvement of indigenous Zimbabweans in the economy as a whole, my Government is finalising the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, which will provide legal underpinning to the Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy.
As part of the process of empowering our emerging entrepreneurs, Government has continued to provide concessionary funding facilities for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector.
A total of $39,5 billion has so far been availed through Sedco for on-lending to the enterprises this financial year. This included funds earmarked for projects by the youths. A total of $200 million was provided under the NEDPP for the funding of 51 projects at various Growth Points throughout the country.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's $16 billion SMEs facility introduced in 2006 has so far benefited 1 222 projects, while Sedco's Loan Booth Scheme has assisted in addressing the financial requirements of the informal sector, which is mainly operated by women and the youth without collateral security.
In order to empower our youths, the Zimbabwe Youth Employment Network was developed and approved by Cabinet in May 2006. This has given birth to the Youth Development Fund and Loan Guarantee Scheme as specific windows for providing financial support to youth driven enterprises.
The Infrastructure Development Bank, through the Youth Development Fund, has successfully provided funds to 32 youth enterprises, creating 522 jobs in the process.
The empowerment of women economically remains top priority for Government. To date, a significant number of women is now effectively involved in critical sectors of the economy.
Government is also soon to introduce gender budgeting as an essential instrument for guaranteeing mainstream of women within Government policies and programmes.
External business trips have been organised for women to visit countries like China, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, South Africa, among others. Government has set aside $5 billion from the RBZ facility for women projects, from which a total of 511 women have already benefited.
Tourism remains one of the key growth nodes in our economic turnaround programme, and with that objective in mind Government has over the past year channelled funds towards the development of the Gonarezhou National Park, which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park shared by South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
2006 was however, a bad year for our environmental conservation, as veld fires destroyed vast tracts of plantations as well as natural forests and grasslands. Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism responded with the launch last year, of the Fire Management and Protection Strategy, which should go a long way in minimising the outbreak and damage caused by uncontrolled fires. Political and civic leaders are also urged to educate our people on the need to preserve our flora and fauna for posterity.
To enhance national fuel requirements, Government continues to work on bio-diesel and ethanol projects, which, it is hoped, will reach a mature stage in the near future.
To alleviate the current power shortages in the country, Government has embarked on various initiatives, which include the renewal of existing Power Purchase Agreements with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Mozambique. Furthermore, Zesa and NamPower of Namibia negotiated and signed a Loan Financing Agreement and Power Purchase Agreement involving the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station. This should go a long way towards improving the performance of Hwange Power Station in supplying power to the national grid.
In the area of transport, Government continues to seek more finance for the development of our national road structure and the enhancement of our national airline (Air Zimbabwe) through the acquisition of more aircraft and the intensification of training programmes for more engineers, pilots and other technical experts.
The worrisome issue of the brain drain in technical skills to neighbouring countries and abroad is fast turning the country into a training ground for other countries with little or no benefit accruing to the nation.
It is for this reason that Government has now created a Skills Retention Fund to attract, retain and support personnel in critical skills shortage areas of the national economy. These recruits will have improved conditions of service.
Government has also embarked on a Cadetship Scheme with a view to recruiting a cadre exhibiting loyalty, patriotism and commitment to serving the public.
Furthermore, Government has taken a deliberate decision to enhance the provision of non-pecuniary incentives in the public service. To this end, a new Public Servants Housing Programme for Public Servants has been established and in the spirit of public and private sector partnership, a Public Servants Housing Development Company has been formed to raise funds for the construction of such houses. In addition, Government is also providing bus services at reasonable fares to transport civil servants to and from work.
Whilst the country is experiencing a downward trend in the prevalence of HIV and Aids from 23,4 percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2007, the situation is still worrying. We should all steer clear of this dreaded scourge, especially through abstinence from premarital sex and faithfulness to one's spouse. The rollout of the anti-retroviral treatment programme is continuing despite the attendant challenge of scarce foreign currency.
In the realm of international relations, we continue to give priority to efforts to promote investment, trade and tourism for economic turnaround under the auspices of the NEDPP.
We have therefore redoubled our efforts to forge strong and mutually beneficial economic ties with both our traditional friendly and new co-operation partners. In that context, we held very successful Joint Commissions with Zambia, China, Iran and Namibia. The Joint Commissions with China and Iran gave fresh impetus to our "Look East Policy" while those with Zambia and Namibia further strengthened our co-operation with these two regional partners.
The advent of unilateral and military adventurism by the powerful few poses the greatest threat to international peace and security.
Accordingly, Zimbabwe will continue to push for the upholding of multi-lateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes as the best guarantee to international stability and security for all nations, big or small.
To improve the efficiency of the international system, Zimbabwe has remained steadfast in its support for calls for reform of the United Nations, especially its Security Council, to make it more democratic.
I wish to express Zimbabwe's gratitude to those countries in the international community and especially to Sadc for remaining unwavering and understanding in their support and solidarity with Zimbabwe.
Let me at this point thank our security forces for continuing to be the vanguard of our revolution and national integrity.
Indeed, they have continued to play a critical role in buttressing our economic turnaround efforts. The ZRP in particular, have greatly assisted in stamping out crime in the country and criminal and impudent behaviour in the mining sector though Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile where anarchy had become the order of the day. In the face of extreme provocation they have curbed and inhibited the criminal tendencies of the opposition parties.
As part of their civic activities, members of the Security Forces continue to spearhead the implementation of operation Maguta/Inala, which seeks to boost the country's food security in joint efforts with A1, communal and resettled farmers to open up vast tracts of land for grain production.
The exercise has seen significant contributions by operation Maguta/Inala to the food security of the country. Finally, I would like to urge all of us to remain resolute in our commitment to the values that define and preserve our nationhood.
Let the spirit of unity and peace continue to prevail in us all, and to bring unison and symphony in our quest for a prosperous Zimbabwe. Let this be your day. Please enjoy the 27th anniversary of our Independence, for Zimbabwe will never be a colony again! Makorokoto, Amhlophe, Congratulations!
I thank you.
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