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Zimbabwe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) says that if it is re-elected in the forthcoming national polls, it will focus on opening the country for business, fighting corruption and making land productive again.
The country will be holding its national elections between July and August. In its 2018 election manifesto, Zanu PF says it will focus on modernising the public sector and promoting investment.
This will include the merging of six entities to form a one-stop investment centre. In so doing, the Zimbabwean government hopes to reduce the time it takes for investors to get their projects approved as all procedures will be done under one roof.
It will also realign its economic empowerment programme to an investor-friendly trajectory, which it expects will lead to economic growth and employment creation.
The country's empowerment laws have gone through a major shift, including the removal of racially discriminatory drafting.
Business ownership now open to all Zimbabweans
With the introduction of the amendments, business ownership is no longer based on racial lines with reference to indigenous Zimbabweans, but is now open to Zimbabwean citizens irrespective of race.
The party says following the successful execution of “Operation Restore Legacy” and the subsequent inauguration of current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the new political dispensation will seek to reposition Zimbabwe in its rightful place in the international community.
Under former president Robert Mugabe’s rule, Zimbabwe was regarded by many Western countries as a pariah state. The ruling party says its mission will now be to move the country “from pariah to global partner.”
It says its “socio-economic interventions will include modernising and mechanising agricultural productivity, elimination of multiple farm ownership and reduction of farm sizes, democratic principles and rule of law, and sustaining unity and peace while tolerating each other in our diversity”.
Following the land reform programme embarked upon in 2000, which faced a myriad of challenges, Zanu PF will now focus on productive use of the land and the issuance of security of tenure documents to beneficiaries to allow for long-term security of tenure.
The issue of land tenure has been a contentious one for years, with the newly resettled farmers failing to access funding for lack of security. But the ruling party now says if given a new mandate, it will provide land reform beneficiaries with bankable leasehold security of tenure.
Multiple farm ownership, which is currently rampant, is also expected to be resolved in order to have more people on the land.
“Wider access to land will be achieved through rightsizing of farms and elimination of multiple farm ownership,” says Zanu PF.
Analysts are however still sceptical on whether the ruling party is capable of reform, given that it has been in power for the past 37 years with Mnangagwa one of the key personnel in government.
However, since assuming power in November 2017, Mnangagwa has gone all out to pronounce and make key economic reforms. This includes a major shift in the country’s empowerment laws, as well as advocating for foreign direct investment.
