Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
ON April, 18, 1980, the Chronicle carried a screaming headline “NOW WE’RE ZIMBABWE”
The subhead read: “Exciting scene at Rufaro as nation is born”
Zimbabwe was born at midnight on April 18, 1980 during a historic ceremony when the Union Jack was lowered at Rufaro Stadium in Harare.
After that the green, gold, black and white flag of the new nation was hoisted, a 21-gun salute boomed out and smoke billowed across the packed stadium. The cracks of the field guns were greeted by roars of approval from the crowd.
On Monday, Zimbabweans will be celebrating 42 years of freedom from colonial captivity that had been a burden to the socio-economic emancipation of citizens.
Bulawayo is hosting this year’s main celebrations at Barbourfields Stadium and the city residents who witnessed the national event at Rufaro Stadium in Harare on 18 April 1980, yesterday relived memories of the historic day.
This year’s Independence celebrations together with the Children’s Party will be held under the theme: “Zim@ 42- Leaving no one and no place behind.”
The theme dovetails with the Second Republic’s drive towards the promotion of national unity, devolution and decentralisation.
The Independence Flame will be taken from Khami Monument through Bulawayo suburbs on April 17 on its way to the Bulawayo Natural Museum of Zimbabwe.
It will pass through Nkulumane, Nketa, Emganwini, Tshabalala, Pelandaba, Pumula, Magwegwe, Gwabalanda, Luveve, Emakhandeni, Entumbane and then the city centre.
Bulawayo residents who attended the inaugural celebrations in 1980 are optimistic that this year’s main Independence Day celebrations in the city will take them down memory lane.
In separate interviews, residents said April 18, 1980, was a special day when people from across the country made a beeline to Rufaro Stadium to celebrate victory over colonialism.
They said as soon as April 18 was confirmed as the Independence Day, the excitement swept across the country.
Mr Simangaliso Ndlovu (64) of Mpopoma suburb said he remembers the day with nostalgia.
Mr Ndlovu said buses were hired to ferry people from all provinces to Harare to celebrate the birth of a new nation and he grabbed the opportunity.
“It was quite a memorable day for me when our country attained Independence on April 18, 1980. Everyone was quite excited because we had been freed from the repressive colonial regime.
I vividly recall the day it was announced that the Union Jack would be lowered for the last time and indeed when the day arrived the Zimbabwean flag was raised to represent a new era in our country,” he said.
“We travelled to Harare and the converged at Rufaro Stadium to celebrate our newly found freedom. Since that day, we have been celebrating this very important day and with the main event coming to Bulawayo for the first time in the history of our country, I am looking forward to reliving those memories of April 18, 1980.”
Mr Ndlovu also remembers the reception given to the Frontline State leaders — Presidents Samora Machel, Kenneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere and several others who attended the celebrations.
“We were graced by several world leaders including the late renowned reggae artiste Bob Marley who entertained us. In my entire life I had never experienced such a day.
“It was actually my first time for me to see real faces of the regional leaders who had helped us attain our independence. The mood was euphoric as the whole country was reverberating to the sounds of joy,” he said.
Ms Mary Tshuma of Njube recalls thousands of Zimbabweans who held night vigils at Rufaro Stadium ahead of the celebrations.
“I was staying in Harare at the time and I recall seeing some people camped at the stadium on Independence Eve to celbrate the freedom. It was an electrifying mood indeed.
“Now that the Government under the Second Republic has decided to bring the main celebrations to Bulawayo, for some of us, it will certainly ignite those past memories,” she said. Ms Deborah Sibanda of Mpopoma suburb said she followed the event on television.
“on 18 April 1980 when we got our Independence, I was in Chegutu and didn’t manage to attend the main celebrations in Harare.
However, I followed the entire proceedings on TV and what I vividly remember is seeing Lord Soames and the Union Jack being lowered and the Zimbabwean Flag being raised,” she said.
“The next thing was watching the late former President Mugabe, who was then Prime Minister, lighting up the flame of independence amid a rapturous cheer from the crowd.”
Ms Sibanda said everyone was so excited as the national flag was hoisted slowly with a blue spotlight playing on it. On the rostrum, Prince Charles was standing at attention, saluting the flag.
Prince Charles said in his own address: “We have all come together here today at a moment of immense historic significance, a moment when the past and all that was negative about it can really be allowed to become the past.”
Ms Sibanda reminisced watching the late former President Mugabe and late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo holding each other’s hands as they celebrated the day despite their political differences at the time.
“This is the kind of spirit that we all want whenever there are such national events. Sadly, today we are now witnessing opposition parties shunning Independence celebrations claiming it’s a Zanu-PF event, which is not the case,” she said.
Mr Nicodemus Mzizi said: “It was great at Rufaro Stadium as we celebrated Independence Day and we also had an opportunity to see faces of some of our liberators such as President Mnangagwa, the late former President Mugabe and Dr Joshua Nkomo among others.” Mr Mzizi said the day will always be etched in his memory.
“We had suffered during the colonial era and when that Union Jack was lowered, we all heaved sighs of relief and when Prime Minister Mugabe took to the podium, the stadium exploded into cheers,” he recalls. – @mashnets.
Online Reporter