Last Updated: Friday, 20 December 2002
?Let?s remain steadfast in our endeavours?
President Mugabe yesterday delivered the State of the Nation address in
Parliament. The following is the full text of his address.
Mr Speaker,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
I address you at a time when our country is experiencing considerable
difficulties related to the devastating drought that has ravaged our region.
Indeed, I address you amidst warnings and fears of yet another drought. This
challenging situation has been compounded by preceding seasons of
devastating floods and, in sum, dramatises our increasing vulnerability to
natural disasters and the need for national preparedness. The Nation remains
anxious about the immediate season and the prospects it bears for all of us.
A direct outcome of these repeated adversities has been a generalised food
shortage both in the country and our region as a whole. Most of our southern
African countries do not have enough food and have resorted to food imports
for survival. A huge food import effort is underway in the region and
clearly our port, rail and road systems are stretched to the limit in order
to meet the logistical demands imposed by this adverse situation. It is a
regional problem; one which has imposed tremendous hardships on our peoples
and a stupendous strain on our economies and infrastructure.
Here at home, household stocks have practically run out in most areas and
Government has had to meet total food requirements from imports. Even parts
of our country which managed some harvests in the last season or which
normally enjoy good harvests in good years have exhausted their stocks and
Government is having to include them on its ever growing list of areas of
need. Government is stepping up grain purchases and the overall movement of
food so we can sustain our people until the next harvest which we hope might
mitigate the drought.
To date, Government has provided $8,67 billion in food aid. As at the 6th of
this month, a total of 1 005 862 metric tonnes of grain had been contracted,
with 648 231 metric tonnes having been delivered. These received quantities
have gone to all our people, strictly on the basis of their numbers and
survival needs across the country.
I cannot over-emphasise the importance of tackling this situation of extreme
need with a common vision and unity of purpose, and of course, with the
usual creative fortitude, which has seen us through similar droughts in the
past.
I appeal especially to our corporate citizens to play a visible, responsible
and meaningful role to complement the Government effort. The man and woman
standing in need of food cannot apply himself or herself fully when he or
she is concerned about where to get the next family meal. Without food,
there cannot be any production, just as there will not be any food if we do
not produce. The challenge should thus be that clear to all of us.
Owing to the drought, the question of the pricing of basic commodities has
become an important aspect of our policy aimed at buttressing the social
security of our people. It has thus become a national issue and not a
prerogative of the entrepreneur. Similarly, the issue of incomes and wages
would have to be looked at from the same perspective so that our collective
response is broad and comprehensive enough to restore the survival threshold
of our people. I, therefore, urge Government to continue consulting with
business and labour for outcomes that bring sustainable relief to our
people. These tripartite consultations should concretely focus on those
commodities that are basic to our people and which thus should be made
available and remain within the reach of the common man.
Because our economy is agriculture-led, resolving the question of drought
constitutes the unavoidable basis of getting our economy to make the
required turn-around.
Hence, under the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme, Government has
increased the amount to be expended on inputs from an initial $1,4 billion
in 2000 to $7,6 billion in 2001, $8,5 billion in 2002 and now to $12,5
billion in 2003. In addition, a total of $1,4 billion was this year
allocated for the purchase of irrigation equipment and rehabilitation of
schemes covering an area of 7 749 hectares throughout the country.
Major rehabilitation works carried out at schemes such as Dewure, Chibuwe
and Mutema in Manicaland; Mankonkoni in Matabeleland South; Shashi and
Lukosi in Matabeleland North; and Chilonga in Masvingo, should result in
enhancing our food production capacity. The successful winter crop piloted
in Masvingo this year should now be extended to other areas with water
masses so the yields of maize and wheat are significantly increased.
Several dam projects which would meet the Nation?s growing water demands,
especially for irrigation purposes, are now at different stages of
implementation and four of them, namely Mundi Mataga in Mberengwa, Matezva
in Bikita, Chikombedzi in Chiredzi and Sadza in Chikomba will be completed
this year.
The District Development Fund is providing tillage to farmers and the
exercise has thus so far covered over 63 000 hectares benefiting more than
13 000 families from the $800 million made available during the 2002 winter
cropping season. In the current 2002/2003 summer cropping season, over 60
000 hectares have been tilled out of a target of 100 000.
Mr Speaker, I have had occasion to update this august House on our Land
Reform Programme which is meant to address the inequitable historical land
apportionment as between the majority of our people and the minority white
settler community. I have also had occasion to announce the near conclusion
of the A1 phase of the Land Reform Programme, while announcing progress
registered to date in respect of the A2 programme which focuses on
commercial agriculture. A lot still remains to be done in fulfilling the
basic requirements of the A2 programme, although the land acquisition
process has gone a substantial distance.
Mr Speaker, our Nation has paid dearly for embarking upon the urgent and
unavoidable land reforms. We have been criticised for doing the right thing,
namely, accomplishing the sovereign mission of acquiring our heritage. Now
that the land has come, let this Nation be repaid by its new breed of
farmers who should work the land diligently and produce abundantly for it
and its neighbours.
Mr Speaker, although we are confronted as a Nation by several economic
challenges, Government continues to introduce a number of measures whose aim
is to restore macro-economic stability. Most of these measures were
announced in the 2003 Budget, while others were announced later. Our
agrarian reforms should accordingly be supported by other measures that seek
to stimulate our small and medium-scale enterprises, while regenerating
activity in the traditional sectors of mining, manufacturing, commerce and
tourism, all with a bias towards stimulating our export sector for greater
foreign exchange earnings.
Our Employment Creation Fund has reached out to rural communities and a
total of $290 million was disbursed towards 2 000 projects throughout the
country, 61 percent of which are rural-based while 51 per cent are
female-owned. Cumulatively, over 80 per cent of these projects are in the
agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
Mining has, in the past year, been affected by low international prices and
rising costs of production. The new fiscal incentives for mining and
approved new incentives to increase the production of gold by the
small-scale and alluvial gold sectors, medium-scale and large-scale
producers, have gone some way towards causing some recovery.
A notable development in mining is the increase in applications for
exploration licences by local small companies. While more resources should
be channelled towards these players, as the future of the industry lies in
their hands, the setting up of the Gold Mining and Minerals Development
Trust (GMMDT) will facilitate the growth of the small-scale sector, by
assisting the mining and benefication processes.
Mr Speaker, tourism is certainly recovering. Tour operators and travel
writers from the United States of America, United Kingdom, Russia and
Malaysia who visited Zimbabwe on fact-finding missions testify to this fact.
More initiatives should be embarked upon in order to achieve the overall
turn-around of this lead sector.
Mr Speaker, the passage of the Rural Electrification Fund Act this year has
given a fillip to our rural electrification programme. To date, two bonds,
totalling Z$7 billion have been successfully issued to finance the rural
electrification programme. As at 21st October 2002, 1 507 projects had been
completed countrywide under the Expanded Rural Electrification Programme.
The Programme also provides beneficiaries with end-use infrastructure such
as equipment used in irrigation, welding, milling and various other small
businesses, which will, in turn, enable them to use electricity for economic
gain.
Infrastructure development remains the cornerstone for the growth of the
economy. The Road Fund established to finance maintenance of roads and
bridges has, to date, accumulated about $2,6 billion, of which about $2,3
billion has been disbursed to the respective road authorities namely, the
Department of Roads, Urban Councils, Rural District Councils and the
District Development Fund.
The new Chirundu Bridge built at a cost of US$22 million through a Japanese
government grant has been completed and is now commissioned. The bridge
should improve the increased flow of traffic between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Major civil aviation projects are being implemented, such as the
rehabilitation of the Harare International Airport runway, and the upgrading
of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, Victoria Falls and Buffalo Range airports at a cost
of $2,5 billion, $14 billion and $3,5 billion respectively.
Housing remains a major priority for Government. Consequently, $198 million
was allocated to local authorities to up-grade old housing estates in
various parts of the country, with a further $150 million being allocated
for servicing about 1 350 stands at growth points and rural service centres
countrywide. Other activities included construction of the Harare Composite
Office Block and Chirundu Border Post facilities. Projects in progress
include the Interpol Sub-Regional Headquarters, Central Registry and
Immigration Headquarters, Rural Health Centres and 13 District Hospitals.
In the area of education, Government continues to expand tertiary education
in response to demand. All technical colleges have been up-graded to
polytechnic status to facilitate the diversification of programmes while the
curricula of vocational and technical institutions have been reviewed to
respond to emerging needs such as those occasioned by the agrarian reforms.
In this regard, the rural industrial attachment programme for students in
technical and commercial disciplines has been introduced to stimulate the
rural economy. As the students gain practical knowledge and skills, they
simultaneously assist local communities in development projects.
A total of 61 A-Level classes have also been established and 29 of these are
rural district schools to allow easy access to rural students who would
otherwise find it expensive to enroll at boarding schools. The preservation
of Zimbabwean social norms and values is at the core of our education
through teaching topics on our Constitution, National Anthem, National Flag
and Human Rights. In order for children in resettlement areas to continue
with their education, 346 primary and 93 secondary satellite schools have
been established.
To reduce the number of vulnerable children dropping out of school, about
700 000 children in primary, secondary and special schools have been
assisted with levies, tuition and examination fees under the Basic Education
Assistance Model (Beam) since January this year. In fulfilment of our
commitment to the Declaration of the Fifty-fifth Session of the United
Nations General Assembly, Government has set in motion the process for
monitoring and reporting on the Millennium Development Goals to reduce
poverty by the year 2015. The Children in Difficult Circumstances (CDC)
programme is another response by Government to revitalise the traditional
child-care approaches by empowering communities so they can assess, analyse
and take appropriate action for vulnerable children in their areas. A total
of $50 million was allocated this year for the purpose. The National Youth
Service Training Programme opened more centres at Guyu in Gwanda, Mushagashe
in Masvingo and Dadaya in the Midlands. Another centre at Kamativi will open
in April 2003.
Given the significant role of this programme in moulding and developing our
youth, Government will ensure that it has adequate resources to meet the
expansion plans for the year 2003 and beyond.
The HIV/Aids pandemic continues to ravage the country. As part of Government
measures to combat the spread of the disease, the number of Voluntary
Counselling and Testing Centres has been increased from 10 in 2001 to 15 in
2002; free nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child infection has
been secured to cover the period 2002 to 2007 while district and village
Aids committees are now functional throughout the country, thereby
strengthening the process of district planning and organisation to fight
HIV/Aids. By the end of August this year, the National Aids Council had
raised $4,5 billion of which $2,1 billion had been disbursed.
The biggest challenge of dealing with HIV/Aids remains the need for the
population to adopt healthy lifestyles. It is in this context that in
addition to implementing water and sanitation programmes, the Government has
allocated $2,5 billion for child supplementary feeding to cover an estimated
1,4 million children under the age of five until the end of the year.
The brain drain fuelled by aggressive recruitment by overseas agents has
resulted in the loss of several health sector personnel, the most affected
group being nursing which has lost about 2 000 nurses. As a short to medium
term measure, the Government has re-introduced the training of state
certified nurses and other paramedical personnel such as pharmacy
technicians, clinical officers or assistants to physicians. This is in
addition to the recruitment of various health personnel from friendly
countries, for example, Cuba, whose 110 medical personnel have already been
deployed to various parts of the country.
Mr Speaker, Britain?s relentless diplomatic campaign of vilifying and
isolating our country has hit a frenzy only matched by its futility. There
is a growing recognition even within the European Union that this Blair-led
anti-Zimbabwe drive is as unjustified as it is spiteful. A number of
countries are questioning the British motives, while global solidarity with
Zimbabwe continues to grow. Equally, the search for new partnerships with
non-traditional regions of our economic pursuits is beginning to yield
positive results. We remain guided by principles of mutual respect and
unbending regard for the sovereign will of independent nations. The regard
we give to all nations of the world is the respect we expect from the same
world.
Much against malicious claims, we have completed our mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and all our soldiers deployed there have come
back triumphant at the conclusion of a hallowed pan-African duty. What the
international community could not achieve with so much tragedy in the 1960s,
has been accomplished by three small southern African nations with meagre
resources and abundant will. As always, the prophets of doom have been
shamed and we have written yet another chapter in peace-making and
peace-keeping, a glorious chapter in African solidarity. Today, the DRC can
march towards peace, with her boundaries clearly etched and drawn, her right
to self-determination fully asserted.
In our relations with our partners in Sadc and the African Union, Zimbabwe
has always sought to play a constructive role in addressing issues that
affect the region. The centrality of our policy has been and will continue
to be based on peace and stability as pre-requisites for social and economic
development.
Mr Speaker Sir, I wish to urge all Zimbabweans to actively participate in
partnership institutions like the National Economic Consultative Forum and
the Tripartite Negotiating Forum and proffer collective and home-grown
solutions to the economic and other challenges that our country is facing.
The National Economic Consultative Forum has now set up its own permanent
secretariat dedicated to following up on the implementation of
recommendations arising from the Forum.
As we bid farewell to yet another year, let us all look to the New Year with
hope, remaining steadfast in our endeavour to seek economic justice and
prosperity for our people and country. Yet before the year ends, we have the
Christmas period which, as a joyous and charitable occasion, should inspire
us to espouse the virtues of love, unity and oneness both as individuals and
as communities.
Let us be better people in 2003. Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous
New Year!
I thank you.
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"Ivinicus factus sum veritabem diceus." ( I have become an enemy for
speaking the truth ) St Paul!
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Mitayo Potosi
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