Former Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara has rubbished President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ‘new dispensation’ and ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra peddled by the new administration saying the country should move away from slogans without substance.
In an interview with 263Chat on the sidelines of the CEO Africa Roundtable conference in Victoria Falls last week, Mutambara chided Mnangagwa for referring to his administration as the new dispensation saying he has to work hard for his reign to be labelled as such.
“There is nothing like a new dispensation in Zimbabwe, it’s a new administration and a new dispensation is harder that’s why we want to help to create what is called a new dispensation.
“You don’t just declare a new dispensation but you work for it so let’s work hard, execute just maybe we will be able to create a new dispensation.
“Another useless slogan is that called Zimbabwe is open for business when was it closed and who closed it, we need to move away from slogans to substances,l know propaganda is good but l am an engineer l believe in substance.
“If Zimbabwe is genuinely open for business you must show me what you have done to attract investors and to make Zimbabwe attractive that’s more important than a slogan-chanting,” said Mutambara.
He called for the implementation and execution of policies and promises by the government instead of conferences without results.
“What we need is to paint a picture for a vision, how are we going to do it, who, who is going to do it, where is the money coming from, what are the milestones and where are the monitoring and evaluation.
“Instead of having many conferences, statements of intention, the proof of the pudding is in the eating so there is a need for execution.
“We got to make sure we are very clear about what our problems are, where is our politics today, where is our economy today and where is our society then we have a sense of where we want to take it and come up with a plan and move to the promised land.
“But more importantly, we must be careful about doing things and unlocking synergies among our selves.
“Zimbabwe will not make it as Zimbabwe, we are going to succeed as SADC and AU, our members are too small and our GDP is $14 billion against the population of 14 million people,” added Mutambara.
Professor Mutambara was part of the panel of speakers at the just ended CEO Africa Roundtable event held in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
