Zimbabwe will leverage on its natural resources and will not be deterred by Western economic sanctions that have caused untold suffering of ordinary people, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
President Mnangagwa said this after the signing of an investment agreement on Southern Serui Platinum Concessions between Government and the Bravura Consortium for aero-magnetic exploration of the 3 000ha Muflox claims.
The claims are situated north of Selous along the Great Dyke in Mashonaland West.
At the signing ceremony, the President – who is also Zanu-PF’s First Secretary – commissioned two aero-magnetic craft to be used for the exploration.
The Bravura Consortium is a multinational mining house with subsidiaries in Nigeria, the DRC, Guinea and Zimbabwe.
President Mnangagwa said the country has been under sanctions for a long time, something that had led to stagnation of development.
“While indeed we still say to those who imposed sanctions on us, remove them, because there is no justification for the embargo, we should not bury our heads in sand because of those sanctions,” he said.
“We should realise that we have resources in our country. We must, therefore, focus on harnessing those resources to develop, modernise and industrialise our country and our economy.
“We should not have sanctions impugn our capacity and capability to use our resources to the benefit of our people. We should rise using the resources at our disposal and move forward.”
President Mnangagwa said Bravura’s investment in Zimbabwe was another milestone for the mining sector following Karo Resources’ decision to invest billions in platinum in Mashonaland West.
The President said mining houses had set a growth target for themselves to see the sector achieve annual revenues of at least US$12 billion by 2023.
President Mnangagwa highlighted the significance of Bravura’s investment in Zimbabwe thus: “An African company investing in an African country; this is great, this what we want to see. This speaks to the integration of the regions of our economies as a continent. We congratulate you Bravura.”
He said Bravura’s investment would create jobs, with phase one directly employing more than 2 000 people.
“As it expands I also see expansion of employment by this project, beneficiation,” he said. “In your speech you said you are not blind to the need to beneficiate. Again I congratulate you for your vision, this is our vision too.”
President Mnangagwa also said to grow the economy there are some sub-sectors of the national economy which are low hanging fruits and among them are agriculture, mining, tourism and ICT sectors.
The second layer is composed of manufacturing, infrastructure development, transport and other social services. President Mnangawa said if people were focused the have the capacity to develop the country given the unity, peace and stability prevailing in the country.
He urged people not to despair but to be bold enough to tackle the challenges facing the country head-on.
“No one will come and develop this country for us,” he said. “But because we don’t have the skills, capital and technology, we therefore say Zimbabwe is open for business. That way we harness capital, skills, technology from outside to help us grow as a country and as economy.”
President Mnangawa said the darkest hour was just before dawn.
“I believe those who have the perception know that darkest hour for Zimbabwe is before dawn.,” he said. “Dawn is just a few kilometres away. Prosperity for this country is there. All what we need is unity and peace among our people. We must march forward together.”
President Mnangagwa said while it was his desire to have the people move forward as a united front some fall by the way side.
“Yes, along the way you may have some who fall by the wayside, some who will not see the vision.,” he said. “It is true, even if we say unity, unity, Christ, Christ not all those who say Christ are Christians. Not all those who say unity, unity have unity in their minds but the majority of our people love unity and they will love to see this country grow. These are the milestones which we are putting stones upon stone, brick upon brick to build our country.”
The President praised Bravura executive vice chairman Mr Benedict Peters for choosing Zimbabwe as an investment destination.
“My brother Mr Peters we shall count you among those in our history who have come to walk with us, to labour with us to surmount the challenges which we face to grow our country and economy.”
