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Sharon Chikowore Mashonaland West Bureau

Various community empowerment projects launched by the ruling Zanu-PF are a fulfilment of the party’s promises during the 2018 harmonised elections, the party’s provincial secretary for finance, Cde Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, has said.

Addressing members of the Women’s League who were receiving training in various projects at the Zanu-PF provincial party offices during the weekend, Cde Mliswa-Chikoka said the empowerment programmes were in line with Government’s Vision 2030.

The empowerment projects are being run under the Community Sustainability Facility and are in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision to open the country for business.

“It is also in line with Vision 2030, for the nation to become an upper middleiIncome economy by 2030. This is also in line with our 2018 party manifesto which ran under the theme ‘Unite, Fight Corruption, Develop, Re-engage, Create Jobs’,” she said.

“The new dispensation has been doing everything in their power to ensure the fulfilment of our promises to the people, as evidenced by the current spate of fights against corruption, the introduction of mono-currency, re-engagement efforts as well as the community empowerment projects,” she said.

Cde Mliswa-Chikoka, who is also the Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister, said the projects were President Mnangagwa’s brainchild.

She said the President then assigned Zanu-PF national chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, who led a delegation to China in May this year to learn a number of projects including self-sustenance, party building and mobilisation.

The delegation, she said, was also taught the importance of implementing congress and conference resolutions which was the bedrock of the Communist Party of China’s continued stay in power.

She called on the party’s key departments from the conference’s thematic committees to ensure the implementation of resolutions made last year.

“The launch of economic empowerment projects by the mational chairman on July 3 marked the beginning of our journey as a party towards community development, economic empowerment and self-reliance,” she said.

“Since the launch, training of provincial members drawn from women, youth leagues, veterans of the struggle and people living with disabilities as well as children of war veterans was conducted.”

The provincial launch will be followed by constituency-based launches marking the beginning of the journey to prosperity for Zimbabwe.

“Currently our main focus is on food security, as we endeavour to avert the current shortages of basic commodities by venturing into production of these commodities.

“In the long run we are looking at expanding into import substitution by growing our own wheat instead of importing. We are also targeting growing fruit trees and preserving them and these will be exported as fresh, dried or tinned fruits, thereby boosting our exports.”