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Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has grudgingly acknowledged the significant progress that President Mnangagwa’s Government has made in the country since taking over in November last year. Addressing MDC supporters in Chinhoyi yesterday, Mr Chamisa, in his departure from attacking the new dispensation, said President Mnangagwa had made strides in putting the pillars for socio-economic transformation into place.

He tried to justify his admittance to the progress made since November in different facets of the economy by saying that the success registered was an attempt to clone the MDC blueprint.

“A good plan has no race, a good plan has no colour that is what Zanu-PF does not know. But (President) Mnangagwa is trying, he has tried to copy in his first 100 days in office. He will not succeed in copying our plans,” he said.

This is despite that the MDC has never implemented any plan since it has been losing elections from its formation in 1999.
Government, under President Mnangagwa, has embarked on a re-engagement offensive, which has seen relations with erstwhile antagonists thawing, resulting in several deals being signed while others are still work in progress.

President Mnangagwa has described his first 100 days as a huge success with general consensus that the economy is on a recovery trajectory.

Government, within the 100 days has managed $3 billion investment commitment from global companies, while significant cuts were made to the national budget to trim waste.

Bold steps to review the Indigenisation Act were taken, which has proved to be a master stroke in redirecting attention to Zimbabwe.

While President Mnangagwa has been calling for peace and tolerance characterised by slogans that do not denigrate individuals or advocate violence against political opponents, the MDC has maintained slogans calling for physical harm on others.
Mr Chamisa said their friends outside the country will help them if they happen to win.

The issue of “friends” was also reiterated by alliance member Mr Tendai Biti, who said the friends called him and Mr Chamisa just before the rally, asking about the attendance and he told them they would send pictorial evidence. Mr Chamisa said an MDC government will introduce a land tax, which will lead to the dispossession of some beneficiaries of the land reform programme.

“We are not going to reverse the land reform programme, but reform it,” he said. “We are going to introduce a land tax, which will lead to some people losing the land because they are not productive. We will also conduct an audit on how someone ended up on the farm.”