Youths will be prioritised when the Government begins redistributing vacant and underutilised land that has been identified through the recent land audit, President Mnangagwa has said.
In his eulogy at the burial of former Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP) Deputy Commissioner Moses Griffiths Mpofu at the National Heroes
Acre yesterday, the President said the country should leverage on the legacy
bequeathed by its heroes to create a prosperous future.
“I am aware that our youths are crying out for pieces of
land and are eager to work the land,” he said. “The inquiry we launched on
agricultural land has identified lots of land which is vacant, underutilised
and belonging to multiple owners.
“Government will repossess that land for on-leasing to the
landless, foremost among them the youths.”
The land reform programme, said the President, must
validate its justness by delivering to “this generation of youth”.
Youths are increasingly taking up farming as a full-time
profession. The President called on farmers to take advantage of this season’s
good rains to grow the agriculture sector and the economy.
“The land must, therefore, be worked on, made to produce
like never before,” he said.
“Meanwhile, my Government continues to build dams and to
set up irrigation schemes designed to climate-proof our agriculture towards
greater production and productivity in both lean and ‘fat’ years.
“This is more urgent and important as the ongoing trade on
the Africa Continental Free Trade Area presents opportunities.”
The Government, through Zimbabwe Investment and Development
Agency (ZIDA) and ZimTrade, was developing and expanding existing export
markets for agricultural produce.
Agriculture is a critical avenue to transform the country
into upper middle-income economy by 2030.
“Let us therefore put Zimbabwe on the global agriculture
map by taking full advantage of our rich soils, climate and our tradition as a
hardworking people,” said the President.
“In this regard, export market-led production must be
strengthened, leveraging on the ongoing work by the Zimbabwe Investment and
Development Agency (ZIDA) and ZimTrade.
“Our country is well on the path to irreversible economic
recovery. This is further augmented by the macro-economic fundamentals which
are pointing in the right direction.”
President Mnangagwa said the Government continues to
mobilise more vaccines after the country took delivery of its first consignment
of 200 000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from China on Monday.
Zimbabwe launched its nationwide vaccination programme on
Thursday. “Early in the week, we took delivery of our first batch of vaccines
against the pandemic.
“The vaccination programme started rolling out this
Thursday, with our Vice President, who is also the Minister of Health and Child
Care, receiving the first jab, and many other frontline workers joining.
“The vaccine is safe and an effective antidote against
Covid-19 and indeed part of our weaponry in fighting the virus.
“All of us, including myself as the President, Cabinet
ministers and all officials, will get vaccinated.” He urged Zimbabweans to
embrace the immunisation programme for the country to quickly return to
normalcy.
Urban local authorities were warned against corruption. The
Government, he added, will not hesitate dealing with land barons behind the
illegal parcelling of land to desperate homeseekers.
“We mean business and there will be no going back or let
up,” he said. “We cannot leave our people to the whims and caprices of
notorious land barons who have been running riot.
“Equally, the fight against all forms of corruption and
other criminal activities continues at full throttle. This is what the late Cde
Moses Griffiths Mpofu stood for. We will not let him down by condoning
lawlessness in the country.”
The President said Cde Mpofu served the country with
distinction, loyalty, courage and fortitude.
“He never wavered in the course of serving the nation and
Government, particularly with regards ensuring law, order and safety; hence we
honour him in this befitting way, resting him among his wartime comrades,” he
said.
He added: “I exhort the officers, men and women in the
Zimbabwe Republic Police to emulate the footprints of the late national hero,
Deputy Commissioner Cde Mpofu (Rtd), who was a rare breed, uncompromising
service officer, dedicated and disciplined cadre.
“You must be emboldened by a benchmarking legacy our
national hero bequeathed to the policing service.”
The Government was committed towards supporting the police
service with regards executing its mandate, he said.
Cde Mpofu was born on August 9, 1954 in Nyamandlovhu
District before attending Nhlabathi and Nkonzo primary schools in Tsholotsho. He
completed his secondary education at Tegwani High School.
In 1974, he was appointed to the post of Secretary for
Youth in Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), covering Hwange and Victoria
Falls.
He received guerrilla training at Mwembeshi and later
Mgagao and Morogoro in Tanzania.
Between 1978 and 1979 he was seconded for further
command-related and intelligence training course at the Novocherkassk Advanced
Police Academy in the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in
anticipation of new duties in independent Zimbabwe.
At independence, Cde Mpofu joined the ZRP as a constable
before rising through the ranks to the post of Deputy Commissioner in 1999, a
rank which he held until his retirement in December 2003. Herald
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