The scarf with the national flag colours that he wears all
the time is a symbol of the pride he takes in being a Zimbabwean despite the
challenges the country is facing, President Mnangagwa has said.
He said the scarf, which has become his trademark, distinguishes
Zimbabweans at any platform.
Several people have been wondering why President Mnangagwa
always wears a scarf and he made the clarification after being asked about its
significance at the official opening of the 5th Global Business Forum on Africa
here yesterday.
“Let me say that for the past two decades, Zimbabwe has
been in isolation, but now since the new dispensation which came about two
years ago, we want to be embraced by the rest of the nations of the
international community again,” said President Mnangagwa.
“To do so, we must be distinct. If you look around, you can
easily see that is a Zimbabwean. So it is easy for the rest of the nations to
identify us. We want to belong to the family of nations. This is the flag of my
country and we are proud to carry it.
“There is no other meaning except that we want to be
distinct and say we are Zimbabweans, we are proud to be Zimbabweans and in
spite of what is happening to my country, we still remain proud.”
President Mnangagwa said the new dispensation was creating
opportunities for young people to showcase their talent at institutions of
higher learning.
Said President Mnangagwa: “We have said to the educational
sector in our country, institutions of higher learning must talk to the private
sector so that they produce graduates that can work and promote industry.
“We have now introduced in all the 16 universities that we
have, innovation hubs where talented students are allowed to develop their
talents.
“If they succeed, they go the next step of industrial hubs to
develop whatever they have. If that succeeds, we now commercialise and that way
we are inculcating young boys and girls to train them as entrepreneurs. They
should not just look for employment.
“During my time when I went to school 40 years ago, we were
going to school to train as teachers or clerks, but that is the past. We now
have young boys and girls who are scientists and we are facilitating that. That
way, we are producing a younger generation of entrepreneurs in our country. We
think that is the way to go.”
President Mnangagwa said since childhood, he was committed
to working for his country and it was his wish to see Zimbabwe competing with
its neighbours and other developing countries in terms of development.
“In terms of infrastructure, our railways, roads, airlines,
manufacturing sector and ICT have been left behind,” said President Mnangagwa.
“There is no need to reinvent the wheel and that is why I
am here. I believe here we have the people who have the capacity in textiles,
who have capacity in diamonds.
“We have lots of diamonds, but we have no technology and
capital to process them. We export them raw.
“We have lots of gold and lithium. I am a lawyer by
training, but I understand lithium is very important for the future. We have
platinum and so on, but with all these resources, they will remain underground
as long as we do not have investment capital coming from outside the country to
assist us in extracting them for the purposes of bettering the lives of our
people, for the purposes of modernising our economy and creating better
conditions for our people.
“This is the vision we have, but it can only be realised if
we are embraced by the international community, if we put policies that attract
investment from the international community.” Herald
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