Comrades, first I would like to extend hearty congratulations to those of you who have made it into cabinet.
At the same time I hope you realise the enormous burden of expectation and aspirations of an entire people this places upon you. Millions of people who would like to see their lives improve look up to you to make the right decisions for the country.
They sincerely wish that your actions will not be driven by self interest, but the interests of a nation that we are all proud of. It is needless for me to repeat to you that for this nation to be where it is today is today, enormous suffering was endured and thousands of lives were lost.
It would be a great betrayal of those who went through this suffering and even lost their lives, if we as Zimbabweans fail to keep the interests of the nation at the forefront of our thoughts. Given the pinnacle of responsibility that you are perched upon, it is incumbent upon you to lead by example in keeping the interests of the country at the forefront of your thoughts and actions.
Our country needs you, to support particularly its economy through your day to day purchasing habits. Government and people in running it are the biggest spenders in any country. It is therefore critical for government, and individuals within it, to make strenuous effort to support local economic activity.
The money that government has, is acquired through taxation of individuals and utilisation of resources that are meant to benefit everyone.
You might disagree, but I do not think it is proper to tax Zimbabweans in order to employ chiefly Germans and Chinese. It for this reason that I implore you to please, please seriously consider my proposal to acquire government vehicles, including top of the range luxury models, from local assembly plants.
The advice I am trying to give includes your spouses as well since they spent quite a substantial amount of money originating from our taxes.
I implore you to be at the forefront of supporting economic activity within Zimbabwe. Remember every time you import goods you are exporting a number of things. First you are exporting the labour needed to make those goods. Second you are exporting the economic activity in the chain of production of those goods right from procurement of raw material to finished product. You will be exporting government revenue, because that comes from taxing economic activity.
You will also be denying local people the opportunity to improve their skills and knowhow in the making of those goods. In other words, you will be exporting your skills base too. You should therefore not be surprised when professionals leave to try and utilise their skills elsewhere, resulting in massive brain drain. In the end the skills of people upon whom the government has spent a fortune to educate do not benefit the country to the maximum.
I know that you will be under a lot of peer pressure to import a lot of trinkets, and luxuries so that you appear prestigious.
Take for example Mr Chiyangwa. We all know about his imported shoes and cars. However at the end of the day, when he wanted votes, he had to come back to the people of Chinhoyi, not Italians, Germans, the British or Americans, upon whom he has lavished lots of spending power.
The same applies to all of you. Do not forget that it is the local people, who put you where you are and make you what we are. We may be poor. You may even believe that we do not wear underwear like one of the contestants in the recent election said. But, the big but, is that we are the people who make Zimbabwe what it is and by extension who make you what you are - officials in the Government of Zimbabwe.
So may I please beg you, support us. Support us in your purchasing habits. Buy your clothes and other trinkets from manufacturers in this country, so that we can have jobs.
Please ndapota, ngiyakucela.
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