adminCletus Mushanawani News Editor
THE Governor of Mozambique’s Manica Province will tomorrow (Saturday) grace Independence Day celebrations in Manicaland that will be bigger and better as people celebrate the rejuvination of the revolutionary Zanu-PF party that brought about majority rule in 1980.
This year’s celebrations will be held under the theme: “Zimbabwe @35: Consolidating Unity, Peace and Economic Sovereignty”.
Unlike in previous years, the provincial celebrations committee went a gear up in mobilising resources to feed the multitudes expected to throng Sakubva Stadium.
In the past people were made to walk to designated feeding points which was chaotic as only able-bodied accessed food.
In an interview on Tuesday, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, said as someone new in the office, she had fresh ideas on having Independence Day celebrations that would be remembered by generations to come.
“This year’s celebrations are different because Zimbabwe is moving out of its youthfulness because in our political circles once a person attains the age of 35, he or she is no longer a youth. We have done our homework and it is all systems go and from the briefings I have been getting, come tomorrow, Manicaland will leave a mark for having the best Independence Day celebrations ever witnessed.
“Celebrations will be marked with merrymaking and we have gone out of our way to raise resources to feed the thousands expected to throng the stadium. People will be fed right in the stadium unlike in the past where chefs and those close to them would wine and dine while the masses went home on empty bellies.
“We have invited my Mozambican counterpart from Manica Province, Mr Alberto Ricardo Mondlane, and his Cabinet who will be gracing our celebrations. He will also take the opportunity of his visit to meet Mozambican citizens who are resident here in Manicaland. With President Mugabe being both the chairman of SADC and AU, this is our way of showing the world that we are united with our Mozambican brothers and sisters,” said Cde Chimene.
Cde Chimene w ho recently led a delegation of provincial department heads to Mozambique for bilateral talks, said the Mozambican delegation would also have a tour of a diary farm and a vineyard in Manicaland as the two countries seek to strengthen agriculture co-operation.
For the first time, the province will hold an Independence Day Ball at Golden Peacock tonight (Friday night).
“The Independence Day Ball is a precursor of the gaiety expected at the main celebrations.
“This is our time to celebrate the historic achievements made in the country as well as in Zanu-PF where the big-headed sell-outs were flushed out from the party. We were warned during the struggle that we should be wary of some of our cadres who would be lured with sugar-coated bullets to sell-out the masses and we are happy that their machinations were exposed just before we marked our 35th Independence Day celebrations. Zanu-PF and the people’s Government is not for gold diggers, but men and women prepared to pull the State carriage through the murky waters of economic, social and political challenges.
“We cannot shed tears to those shown the exit doors or censored like Joice Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo (for the second time), Webster Shamu, Enock Porusingazi and Munacho Mutezo because in the past we had people with big egos like Edgar Tekere, Ndabaningi Sithole and Margaret Dongo who also thought were bigger than Zanu-PF only to taste their bitter own medicine by finding themselves in political dustbins,” she said.
Cde Chimene added: “This year’s Independence is also important to us in Manicaland because we will be celebrating a major victory where Zanu-PF and Zanu-Ndonga have since united under the Zanu-PF banner.
“This is something we have been longing for all these years and our dream has come true. We are now at our strongest point as Zanu-PF.
“I want to urge everyone from the so-called business community to the masses to come in their numbers because we are all politicians from birth. Everyone here in Zimbabwe is enjoying the benefits of an independent Zimbabwe and we will be taking stock on those slackening in joining others to celebrate our Uhuru.”
Mutare Senator and one of the veteran liberation war instructors, Senator Judith Mawire a.k.a Cde Tapiwa Zvenyika, likened the Independence Day to the much-celebrated Easter holiday.
“At Easter, we will be celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our Independence Day celebrations should be accorded the same prominence because our freedom came after the shedding of blood of thousands of sons and daughters of this country.
“Yes, we might be going through a lot of economic challenges, but we have so many things to celebrate this year. People now have freedom of association, movement and speech, something that was unheard of during the Smith regime. It is sad to note that some people are now abusing the freedom, forgetting that they are not only offending President Mugabe, but gallant sons and daughters of this country who took up arms to fight the Rhodesians.
“As our nation moves to adulthood, we should all join hands to fight corruption in all circles because Zimbabweans should fully enjoy the fruits of an independent nation,” she said.
Online Reporter