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Munyaradzi Mlambo and  Denslow Kisi Correspondents
The change in leadership which seemed long overdue has ushered in a new era pregnant with endless possibilities. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inaugural speech last Friday set the tone for the monumental task of rebuilding Zimbabwe that lies ahead. However, as the nation picks itself up in preparation to embark on a long and unpredictable rebuilding journey, it is imperative that an all-hands on the deck approach be adopted if genuine transformation is to be realised.

The major stakeholder in this quest is the citizen. Both immediate and long-term solutions to be implemented must be born out of dialogue between the leadership and citizens.

Even though the President spoke about everything people wanted to hear, from strengthening pillars of democracy, creation of jobs (jobs, jobs, jobs), growing the economy and provision of various social services, it should be known from onset that the new government will not be able to bring about the anticipated results on its own. It is only through the contribution of each individual to this economy that the much awaited Zimbabwean dream will become a reality.

Rescuing this nation requires commitment, dedication and discipline and thus the need for Zimbabweans to enter this new era with a self-reliance mentality in order to fully realise the opportunities that are coming.

However, there must be a launch point to this journey. Where do we start? Firstly, Zimbabwe must develop a culture of separating economic and developmental issues from the antagonistic and toxic political affairs.

This has been the greatest undoing of the previous administration. This made noble economic policies meaningless. Secondly, there is need to draft and implement a short-term economic policy as soon as possible. The aim of this “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” programme should be to address micro-economic stability.

The informal sector, a self-made backbone that has sustained the livelihood of millions unemployed people, must be immediately given a shot in the arm. Conditions necessary for new business to thrive should be created immediately. The economy will heavily depend on start-ups and entrepreneurs with a drive to create global giants like Google, Uber, Apple and Microsoft.

Thirdly, in his address, President Mnangagwa reiterated the importance of creating gateways for foreign direct investment. The country has a bad reputation with investors. Many felt it was too risky to invest in Zimbabwe. A combination of corruption and other unethical behaviours drove away potential investment leading to billions going under the bridge.

The new administration needs to address the high risk perception associated with the country to create a better business environment that attracts foreign investment.

This includes guaranteeing investment security and offering incentives to investors. Above all, both domestic and foreign investment policies need to be revisited immediately, aligning the two in line with the economic recovery agenda. The market has to be liberalised and Zimbabwe must aim to become a global epicentre of international trade.

The internet alone has turned the world into one global market. Zimbabwe can borrow lessons from this, and give access to all legitimate explorers and prospectors alike. This is of paramount importance if Zimbabwe is to experience the desperately needed jump-starter shift.

Fourth, there is need to look into taxation rates, government-related expenditure and operational regulations, that is redrafting all these to create room for economic players to participate and offering them lucrative bargains that boost infrastructure development and employment creation. The rules must be lenient but not loopholed as to leave room for looting. Then there is infrastructure, a key economic growth enabler.

Economic growth on outdated infrastructure will definitely be slow. Doors must be opened for public-private partnerships to support this cash-strapped Government in areas of infrastructure development. A host of local and foreign companies are prepared to buy into certain infrastructure development projects simply because they understand the underlying potential.

Investors with globally competitive strategies are knocking on the doors to revive ailing parastatals such as Air Zimbabwe, Zimpost, NRZ, ZBC, etc. The success of the ZINARA-Group Five setup brought about an unexpected surprise and the same progress can be experienced in other sectors.

The biggest hurdle to PPP’s has been the restrictive and bureaucratic government policies that would rather see companies shut down instead of getting the much needed interventions.

This is something the new administration should tackle with god-speed. In the same breath, incompetency in parastals management should never again be glorified. Ailing government companies must be restructured and stern measures to bolster transparency put in place.

Such measures are critical in ending corruption and curbing the misappropriation of funds. Land reform is irreversible, said the President. This is not disputable. However, there are cases of gross underutilisation of the repossessed land as well as multiple land ownership.

A land audit would go a long way in addressing these discrepancies and ensure that land is productively used and equitably distributed. Agriculture, the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy, has been negatively affected by a combination of Western sanctions and a lack of proper planning by both the government and citizens on land utilisation.

However, with the launch of the Command Agriculture initiative, which the President said will continue, the country has laid a solid base for increased agricultural productivity, and slowly but surely, Zimbabwe is finding its way to the breadbasket of Southern Africa status.

This alone should inject foreign currency into the domestic reserves. The creation of Special Economic Zones should get a sharper focus and speed. Places like Bulawayo used to be industrial hubs. They played a pivotal role in sustaining the economy and employed a lot of people. The new government will be need to borrow to inject money into the economy.

Approaching foreign lenders such as the IMF must be done with maximum precaution and with due diligence. Measures of accountability must be put in place to avoid piling of legacy debts which will affect future generations. Finally, there is urgent need for electoral reforms to allow free, fair and credible elections to take place next year. Together, we can make Zimbabwe great again. All the best Mr President.

• Munyaradzi Mlambo is a journalist and Denslow Christian Kisi is an award-winning advertising and marketing expert.