Zim @43: None but ourselves
Mt Darwin was the place to be on Tuesday for Zimbabwe’s 43rd independence celebrations and what a colourful outing it turned out to be.
A packed Independence Day programme that had the Independence parade and flypast, displays by the police and prisons officers with a cherry at the top being a football match pitting two of Zimbabwe’s most supported sides, Dynamos and Highlanders, the event left an indelible mark in the province that still has the scars of the liberation struggle.
Since coming into power in 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has lived up to its promise to decentralise the main celebrations, a move hailed by many.
The highlight of the day was the grand appearance at the VVIP section by former Vice President Joice Mujuru who went on to hug the President, the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and others, signalling that politics is not a zero sum game.
Yesteryear, Mujuru was accused of leading a faction that intended to overthrow the late former President Robert Mugabe. There she was on the high table, hugging her former arch enemies.
Tuesday’s event drew thousands to Mt Darwin. The situation was the same in the country’s provinces as Zimbabweans rose above politics to commemorate the day which is a constant reminder of the road travelled for Zimbabwe to be free and chart its own course.
It was not a gathering of Zanu PF or Citizens Coalition for Change members but Zimbabweans that congregated to celebrate 43 years after the end of colonial rule.
That unity should prevail after the celebrations. The coming elections should be about issues, ideas.
Gone are the days when elections used to leave communities battered and bruised, after they ignored the fundamental point that elections come and go but a neighbour will remain a neighbour.
The current administration has to ensure that it addresses what the liberation struggle was all about—the return of the land and equal opportunities for all.
It will be a travesty for those that lost their lives during the liberation struggle if a small group only has access to the means of production and opportunities are available to a few.
This year’s celebrations were held under the theme, Zim@43: Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo /Ilizwe Lakhiwa Ngabanikazi Balo. The theme resonates with the need for self-reliance, self-determination and unity of purpose.
This does not give carte blanche to a select few to benefit under the mantra “it is our time to eat”.
It is Zimbabweans that build Zimbabwe before outsiders come in. Differences should remain just that. Where there is a need to close ranks for the betterment of the country, let it be.
Value addition in the mining and agriculture sectors should be promoted for Zimbabwe to get value from its resources. Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war have amplified the call for import substitution.
On the eve of independence in 1980, the then incoming Prime Minister the late Mugabe called for the former protagonists to beat swords into ploughshares. There is no better time to reinforce that than now.
