President Mnangagwa assures nation delivery on promises

Harare (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa assured the nation on Monday that his government will deliver on all election campaign promises in its second term in office.

He was speaking as he took oath of office administered by Chief Justice Luke Malaba at a packed National Sports Stadium in Harare, to mark the beginning of his new presidential mandate.

He secured his second term in office after garnering 52.6 percent of the vote in the just ended harmonised general elections, beating 10 other contestants including his nearest rival, Nelson Chamisa of CCC who managed 44 percent of the vote.

“The transformation of the living standards of our people, especially those in rural communities, will be accelerated, while the concerns of those in urban areas will not be neglected,” President Mnangagwa said.

“Responsive policies, projects and programmes, which begun during the first term of my Presidency are on course to lift many more people, out of poverty and into prosperity. The hurdles such as the illegal, heinous sanctions and machinations of our detractors must be knocked out of our way through unity of purpose, hard honest work, innovativeness, resilience, focus and determination.”

He thanked Zimbabweans for the unity and peace that prevailed before, during and after the elections which he said was a demonstration that the country is a mature democracy and will stand as an everlasting standard and benchmark as Zimbabwe deepens and entrenches constitutional democracy.

Promising to whole-heartedly serve all Zimbabweans regardless of tribe, religion, colour, creed or political persuasion, the President recommitted himself to uphold and defend the country’s constitution and laws with integrity and impartiality.

During the new term, he assured the nation that ongoing success milestones in the agriculture sector that have seen the country becoming food secure in both maize and wheat, will be consolidated.

This was both a validation of the country’s land reforms, and evidence of the government’s pro-people policies and programmes.

The momentum will be guaranteed through ensuring household and national food security, the continued construction of dams, accelerated irrigation development and the ongoing borehole drilling in each of the country’s 35 000 villages and at every school to insulate the agriculture sector from climate change induced weather fluctuations.

President Mnangagwa said rural development will be implemented at full throttle through robust rural agriculture industrialization models that will result in 35 000 villages countrywide having productive agro-based companies, owned and run by the benefiting communities and resulting in a multi-fold increase in rural incomes and sustainable livelihoods.

“Concurrent with this thrust is the setting up of rural industries and systems designed to process, value add, beneficiate as well as export agricultural produce. Untapped opportunities exist for more of our people to penetrate the global markets and value chains through quality ‘made in Zimbabwe’ goods and products,” he said, adding that this will have ripple effects to the country’s agro-based manufacturing sector and industrial base.

New Ziana