The events in Zimbabwe over the past few weeks have been nothing short of ground-breaking.
Our neighbours showed the whole world how a modern coup is done. In a matter of weeks, Zanu-PF managed to get rid of Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace and take their political party back, all the while keeping political control and even earning sympathy, admiration and envy from the rest of the world.
I have never seen a coup d'etat so celebrated in my life. For a moment it felt like Zanu-PF had liberated the country from an oppressive regime. Wait, they did.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been sworn in and election talk has started. I am certain there will be elections and I am hopeful they will be free and fair, allowing Zimbabweans to chart their own way forward.
Once a case study on how African states could reinvent themselves after liberation, Zimbabwe sits on the precipice of reclaiming its past glory. However, while this political reform is important, it is just as critical that our neighbours find a way to kick-start their fallen economy to a prosperous future for the 13million people of Zimbabwe.
The country is said to have only 600 000 formally employed people - 40% of whom work for the state. The economy is worth $16-billion (R223-billion) and has incurred $9-billion in foreign debt and $11-billion in domestic debt.
Zimbabwe has to urgently find a way to grow the economy, and reduce debt. But how?
By removing the impediments.
First, the country must immediately arrest inflation. A decade ago, hyperinflation peaked at a staggering 500billion percent, resulting in Zimbabwe abandoning its own currency and adopting a range of foreign currencies and bond notes for domestic transactions.
This led to the country's foreign-currency reserves running dry, chasing off bankers, insurers and retailers, and in the process decimating infrastructure spending and killing the industrialised sector along with agriculture. No sustainable business can operate in an environment where prices change so often and by so much.
Secondly, they must urgently fix liquidity. In spite of some improvement in recent times, apparently companies wait, on average, more than three months for foreign currency from the central bank. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Manufacturing Sector Survey 2017 Report estimates that the foreign-currency backlog stands at $651-million.
Ordinary citizens lucky to have money in the bank are even luckier to withdraw $50 on a good day. You cannot grow an economy with no liquidity.
Thirdly, they need to urgently find a way to boost their infrastructure. Last month Zimbabwe's secretary for finance and economic development, Willard Manungo, said research with the African Development Bank revealed that the country needed a minimum of $30-billion to revamp its ageing and dilapidated infrastructure.
The country doesn't have to wait for next year's elections to start chipping away at its dire economy. Mnangagwa can start now by making the right noises and signalling economic policy reform that is attractive to foreign investors.
This exciting and unique opportunity of a resurgent Zimbabwe is also one for the continent of Africa. We keep complaining about how low intra-African trade is. Imagine if African companies and governments were to lend all the support required for a resurgent Zimbabwe, as opposed to the US, China or Europe.
One of my favourite songs by Letta Mbulu is Amakhamandela (Not Yet Uhuru). In the perfect melody and her sweet voice she repeats the Zulu adage, "ilifa lezithutha, lidliwa abahlakaniphileyo" - loosely translated as "the inheritance of fools is stolen by the enlightened".
Perhaps these past two weeks will go down in history as the Fourth Chimurenga.
The universe has bestowed a huge opportunity for genuine liberation for the people of Zimbabwe. They would do well to make economic liberation central to their mission, otherwise it's not yet uhuru.
• Khumalo is chief operating officer of MSG Afrika and presents 'Power Business' on Power98.7 at 6pm, Monday to Thursday
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