COMMENT: Heroes Day with a difference resoundingly celebrated

YESTERDAY, the country marked the 43rd anniversary of Heroes Day.
President Mnangagwa led proceedings at the main event at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. In addition to leading the traditional event, he officiated at the double burial of national heroes – former Attorney-General and Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Johannes Tomana (56) and top war veteran, Brigadier-General Milton Siziba (Rtd) (71).

Theirs was a special burial at the national shrine — two national heroes representing two generations of Zimbabwe’s development being buried at the hallowed ground on Heroes Day.

Ambassador Tomana, born on September 9, 1967, was too young to join the liberation struggle. In fact, the first shots marking the start of the Second Chimurenga/Umvukela were fired a month before his birth.

However, he represented a cadre of Zimbabweans who contributed immensely to the post-Independence development of the country. As a lawyer and Attorney-General he fought a hard legal battle to advance the land distribution programme since 2000. He worked hard to defend the revolutionary programme in local courts, in South Africa and at the now-disbanded Namibia-based Sadc Tribunal, that unfit-for-purpose structure that 79 white former farmers, led by Mike Campbell, now late, thought they could use to reverse the land reclamation programme.

Brig-Gen Siziba, we can say, was relevant in both phases of the country’s development. He fought during the liberation struggle leading to Independence in 1980 and assumed very senior roles in the military as well as the Zimbabwe Prison Service, now Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service post-Independence.

So, we had a Heroes Day with a difference yesterday.
Today, the President will lead the main event at the National Sports Stadium in Harare as the country marks the 43rd anniversary of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Day. As Commander-in-Chief he will deliver the keynote speech detailing the successes that the armed forces have scored since the 42rd anniversary, while looking into the future.

We are mindful of the criticality of today’s event, which has its roots in the Second Chimurenga/Umvukela. The core of the ZDF started it all in the 1960s as volunteers fighting for the liberation of the motherland. The Commander-in-Chief himself was there as a young boy fighting. We remember his role as a member of the Crocodile Gang which, in 1964, bombed a train in Fort Victoria, now Masvingo. He was a top Zimbabwe National Liberation Army security official later in Mozambique. He was minister in the country’s first post-Independence Cabinet.

In addition, the command element of the ZDF today was there in the liberation struggle. The Commander of the ZDF, General Philip Valerio Sibanda, Zimbabwe National Army Commander, Lieutenant-General David Sigauke and Airforce Commander, Elson Moyo were there as well.

The Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri was in the struggle too.
We are delighted to be marking this day, to be celebrating the immense work that the ZDF does in defending the national interest, the country’s territorial integrity as well as promoting peace and development. Everyone needs that reassuring presence of their military to defend them, of course, with God above providing the ultimate defence.