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THE Zanu-PF Extraordinary Congress is scheduled to roar to life 29 days from now, amid expectations from both party members and neutrals alike, that the Congress will come up with practical resolutions to expedite the economic turnaround initiative. We all expect that, as has become the norm, the Congress will review the ground covered since the last session in Harare, evaluate the measures implemented and come up with informed decisions to move the nation forward.

It is providential that the issues that were likely to dominate the agenda, namely succession and factionalism, are unlikely to do so in the wake of the sacking of the two vice presidents Joice Mujuru in 2014 and Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2017, both of whom were identified with factions angling to succeed President Mugabe. With President Mugabe already endorsed as the party’s Presidential candidate for 2018, all eyes should be on the ball.

This naturally leaves the agenda clear to tackle pressing bread and butter issues. We have no doubt that the revolutionary party leadership have since identified the issues that can make us regain our rightful place as Southern Africa’s second biggest economy after South Africa. And all indications are that after a successful turnaround, there is nothing that would preclude us from giving South Africa a run for its money. President Mugabe has consistently pushed the agenda of socio-economic transformation. He rightly pointed out that this objective could be achieved through good corporate citizenship that shuns vices like corruption, illegal foreign currency dealings, nepotism and bribery.

It is also our hope that the Congress will discuss ways of stamping out or curbing these evils that detract from the turnaround programme. It is providential that the Congress comes at a time the nation has attained food self-sufficiency on the back of the highly successful Command Agriculture programme, the brainchild of First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe. And in light of the changing climatic patterns, Congress should discuss ways of ensuring that we do not overly rely on rain-fed agriculture in order to ensure that the Command Agriculture programme continues scoring for the nation.

As delegates troop into the Congress venue next month, they must remember that the whole nation will be looking up to them, it expects nothing less than tangible programmes to consolidate the turnaround programme. The Extraordinary Congress should celebrate the successes scored so far, with the illegal regime change ship running aground, the sponsored opposition in tatters and all indications are that with concerted efforts, Zanu-PF can march into Election 2018 stronger than ever before..