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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
The Zanu-PF leadership in Masvingo has thrown its full weight behind austerity measures introduced by President Mnangagwa’s Government, saying they were a bitter pill to swallow, but necessary to cure, and would set the country on a positive economic trajectory.

The Government introduced austerity measures aimed at reducing the country’s budget deficit by curtailing expenditure.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube introduced a two percent intermediated money transfer  tax to widen the country’s revenue collection by tapping into the billion-dollar informal economy.

The Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial co-ordinating committee (PCC), at its first meeting of the year, threw its weight behind President Mnangagwa and the ongoing efforts to revive the economy through the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP).

Speaking after a recent PCC meeting, Zanu-PF Masvingo spokesperson Cde Ronald Ndaba said the pain from austerity measures was an inevitable reality that should be faced by the nation.

Cde Ndaba said the pain will soon be replaced by joy under a new epoch of prosperity, as Zimbabwe will soon start enjoying the fruits of the austerity measures.

“As Zanu-PF Masvingo, we want to make it very clear that we are fully behind President Mnangagwa and the austerity measures introduced by his Government to set the country’s economy on a growth trajectory which is sustainable,” he said.

“The President made it very clear that under austerity there will be pain and sweat and this is exactly what we are experiencing. But we can only prosper as a country after first going through pain, so we fully back all the measures aimed at bringing back our economy on track no matter how painful.’’

Cde Ndaba said Zimbabwe could only achieve its goal to become an upper middle income economy by the year 2030 through sweat and pain.

He said the Zanu-PF Masvingo PCC underscored the need for unity and for all Zimbabweans to pull in the same direction to engender socio-economic development.

‘’There was unanimity in our PCC that the people of Masvingo deserved a pat on the back for showing the whole nation that they are united as evidenced by very limited skirmishes in the province during the so-called national shutdown when property such as people’s cars and shops were burnt and looted in other parts of the country,” said Cde Ndaba.

“Zanu-PF Masvingo took note of the fact that people in our province are united because unlike other places and provinces, peace prevailed during the so-called national shutdown and most people were even open for business just like during other normal days, this is something we agreed that it deserved to be commended.”

Cde Ndaba said the PCC paid tribute to President Mnangagwa and his Government’s swift response to the plight of nearly 100 families whose homes were damaged by powerful winds across Mwenezi district recently.

Some schools also suffered the same fate, forcing pupils to attend lessons in the open.

Government, through the Civil Protection Unit and the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society chipped in with food, financial assistance and tents to mitigate the plight of the victims.