President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said Africas problem is "the failure of leadership" and it needs to evolve
The president was speaking on a panel at the Africa CEO Forum with former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, where they shared their experiences on the sustainable and inclusive growth of Africa and their own countries in particular.
Mnangagwa continued, "Geographically, my country is far from Nigeria but that did not stop Nigeria from helping us when we needed it. It is this vision that we African leaders should share: mutual aid. Africa needs to learn how to manage its own problems, and this starts with the balance between leadership and institutions".
He believes that the executive, the legislature and the judiciary should be independent. Each must perform its mission freely and transparently, but play a complementary role. The sustainable and inclusive growth sought by African countries is only possible if civil society and elected politicians operate without interference.
"We have civilian organisations that come to our countries to support our people by building schools and health centres. It's their role and we welcome that. What we do not accept is that they interfere in our politics. You cannot come from outside and tell us who we need to put at the head of our country, think our politics for us. We must let Africa evolve," Mnangagwa said.
Zimbabwe has begun its economic recovery through the implementation of an agrarian reform process that enabled 367 families to gain access to land.
"We are attempting to evaluate the situation before launching reforms. But we have started land redistribution. This was one of the major problems that we had to solve in Zimbabwe. Today, we need a structure to fight famine and poverty. For now, we are giving our farmers the means to improve and increase production. The food shortage will be alleviated through this system," Mnangagwa added, who also announced that women and young people will be given a prominent place in national decision-making.
In his speech, Nigeria's former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, said that, in the fight against corruption, there was one principle to be respected: that of having strong institutions and effective leadership. "It's good to have a law that sets up a strong institution. But you have to have the men who go with them, effective people. If not, we will not complete our mission. Our goals will never be achieved," he said.
