President Mnangagwa brings a rare kind of leadership

Hosia Mviringi

President Emmerson Mnangagwa epitomises rare leadership qualities that deserves a second look for any critical political observer.

Since coming to power in an equally rare yet dramatic fashion on November 24, 2017, President Mnangagwa has displayed an awesome kind of leadership which is characterised by the need for and practicality or national convergence. This has been epitomised through the establishment of an informal yet effective dialogue platform for all active and willing political actors for engagement.

POLAD has provided a rare platform for engagement, advocacy and expression of nation building ideas by those actors that may be out of government. The platform is as self enriching to the President as it is to other participants due to the level and depth of exchanges that take place for national edification.

The President solidified his commitment to depart from a winner-takes-all through a sustained engagement with minority, marginalised, aggrieved and under-represented groups of the population such as the San community, victims of Gukurahundi incidences and aggrieved losing political parties.

In the first three years of his first five year term, the President has managed to build confidence and trust between his government and these groups, in some instances having to confront and field some of the most difficult questions of a lifetime.

This commitment is unprecedented especially given the fact that he succeeded one hard liner of a leader who strongly believed in absolute power throughout a nearly 40 year rule.

President Mnangagwa's hands on approach to business is a shining example of what servant leadership entails. He has normalised leading from the front and on the field, opposed to desktop leadership which thrives on third party progress reports.

For this he has earned himself the "Mr Ground-breaking" moniker because he thrives better in the thick of things.

He has been to irrigation schemes and dam construction sites. He has been to new mining ventures, new construction sites such as the new Parliament building, RGM International Airport expansion project and new bridge opening at Karanda.

He has been to Gokwe for the launch of a new ginnery plant at Cottco and he has been to Beitbridge for the ground-breaking ceremony for the land border post expansion.

The President has been to Mutare for the launch of the new Wattle plant, Mega Market expansion project and the new Mutare Oxygen plant.

The indefatigable President Mnangagwa has been to Ngezi Mashonaland West for the launch if the new heifer project and a new Court complex at Chinhoyi, just to name but a few.

The President has he's played an unmatched leadership work ethic which can only be a dream for many.

The new thrust for the Second Republic is to work hard and develop Zimbabwe from within using locally available resources.

This notion is amply supported by the limited number of foreign trips that the President has undertaken since coming to power in July 2018, and the quantum of projects completed and currently underway using locally harnessed resources.

The President has encouraged his government to embrace policy transparency as proven through religious post-cabinet briefings.

These media engagements have transformed the way government business is done as it will always be subjected to public scrutiny.

President Mnangagwa has fine-tuned the country's foreign policy to embrace all nations of the world, Eastern and Western, through the engagement and re-engagement policy.

The Second Republic has enhanced the effectiveness of the country's diplomatic missions by adopting economic diplomacy as a dominant feature of the country’s diplomatic engagements.

The President has drastically scaled down and to some extent eliminated divisive political rhetoric both locally and internationally. His tone has been and continues to be conciliatory. He has devoted his life to building bridges and broken relations.

Peace and reconciliation are some of the most critical pillars for nation building, and the President is not lost on the cause.

The education sector has received generous attention from the President as he has been at the forefront advocating for a science and innovation driven economy, culminating in the establishment of Innovation Hubs and Centres of Science and Technology Excellency at all State Universities and Colleges.

The drive has climaxed with a launch of the country’s ground-breaking Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency and the Zimbabwe Science Park 1 at the University of Zimbabwe.

Under his visionary leadership, Zimbabwe is on course to launch its own Science Satellite next year 2022.