Zimbabwe welcomes foreign investors into the country but
will not accept investments that come with conditions attached.
This was said by President Mnangagwa after taking part in
the ninth edition of the National Environment Cleaning Day at Ashbrittle
Shopping Centre yesterday.
He also said there must be unity and peace among
Zimbabweans if the country is to develop. “We want a better future, we want the
next generation to live a better life than ourselves and to do so the current
generation should be united as a country, as a people and we must put our heads
together and shoulders on the wheel to develop, to modernise, to industrialise
our country,” President Mnangagwa said.
“We can do that and achieve that on our own, depending on
our resources but alas, the pace at which we develop would be very slow. That’s
why we have said ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ in order to attract foreign
direct investment into the country and assist us to develop the various sectors
of the economy: agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, infrastructure
development and ICTs.
“But when FDIs come into the country, they must come at the
dictates of ourselves; no political ties, no conditions. The conditions should
only be those which we want and this can only be achieved if we remain united,
when we remain peaceful, when each one of us strives to do one’s best in
whatever they are doing.”
President Mnangagwa said Government had embarked on the
re-engagement process so that the country re-joins the community of nations.
“In 2017 came in the new Government and under the new
dispensation we said we are embarking on an engagement and re-engagement
programme with the international community. We said we want Zimbabwe to join
the family of nations. We said to those who were not engaged with this country,
‘can we engage?” said President Mnangagwa.
The President said Zimbabwe cannot live in the past but the
past could only be a lesson for the future in order to avoid the bad things
that happened in the past.
“We have challenges and we must not avoid them but deal
with them head-on. In that process, we will go through hard times until we
surmount those challenges,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said he recently commissioned 47 Zupco buses to
ameliorate transport challenges being faced by the peopleo due to high fares
being charged by private players.
President Mnangagwa said a further 1 000 buses were
expected from China and 500 from Belarus.
Turning to the clean-up, he said the onus, to clean the
environment was everyone’s responsibility.
“When we were growing up, only girls and women had the
responsibility to ensure that the household was clean but we are saying that
time is gone because it is now everybody’s responsibility to ensure that our
environment is clean irrespective of one’s gender,” he said.
President Mnangagwa also commended Harare residents for
improved cleanliness in the city but said there was still room for improvement.
“There is a saying that says cleanliness is next to
Godliness and I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t want to be near God,”
he said.
“Cleanliness brings out peace, brings about unity, and
brings about prospects of prosperity because you give attention to things that
are bad and remove them and aspire to have good things around you. Those are
the tenets for development for any nation. Some people may say since this
programme was introduced by President Mnangagwa, who is from Zanu-PF, they
won’t take part but I want to say smartness knows no political affiliations and
should therefore be embraced by all.” Herald
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