HARARE, (The Southern African Times) – February 2022 marked a turning point in global affairs as Russia moved into Ukraine to conduct what President Putin calls a special military operation. While acknowledging various entwined events leading to this critical page in human history it is important to realise that during all the chaos, uncertainty, and losses a new era is being ushered in. The critical question is what this means for Africa and precisely here at home in Zimbabwe?
What started of as purely military has turned into economic warfare dressed in a heavy garment made of ever-increasing sanctions on Russia and almost everything Russian. It is not surprising that the West is using sanctions to cement their global hegemony. Zimbabwe relates well to the issue of sanctions as they have for over two decades hindered economic growth and triggered political unrests. It is therefore significant for us as Zimbabweans to take lessons from Russia and how they have sought to create an almost sanction proof economy.
The Russian economy has its strength on Energy, Grains, Gold among other minerals. The west depends on Russian oil and gas to such an extent that the European Union is still divided on the issue of sanctioning Russian oil and gas, countries such as Germany have been hesitant on this matter arguing that this will have a great impact on the German economy. Russia has been able to leverage their position as a major energy player to put this into the Zimbabwean context we are blessed with sunlight enabling us to work towards full solarisation for us to become less dependent on electricity imports, fortunately the government has been working on various huge solar projects. Zimbabwe has significant Lithium deposits testified by the recent Arcadia deal. Going forward the leadership needs to put much more effort in protecting this precious commodity as it is the driving force towards electric vehicles hence less dependency on oil. There is a need for progressive policy enhancement so that the country maybe able to leverage this for economy growth, employment and import substitution.
Russia is a major producer of grains such as wheat, it is already feared that the world will face severe wheat shortages leading to increased bread prices because of the current impasse. This is a wake-up call for every Zimbabwean and a reminder that we can return to our African breadbasket status. Fortunately, we have critical programmes such as Pfumvudza and Command Agriculture but for these to achieve their intended goals we all need to have unity of purpose.
As the third largest producer of Gold Moscow is at an economic advantage as they are currently benefiting from increasing gold prices. This can be emulated for Zimbabwe as we have decent gold deposits which can be used to create significant reserves to allow us to be well positioned for the new era of global politics and economics.
As the nation is headed for elections in 2023 it is critical for Zimbabweans to be able to realise that the economy will only be built by its citizens and that there is need to protect our resources from foreign interference. Zimbabweans must stand together in condemning sanctions and corruption so that we can position ourselves to be the SADC economic powerhouse.
Tongai Mafidi Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean Member of Parliament for Harare South Constituency
