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ZIMBABWEANS will on Monday commemorate the Heroes Day to pay tribute to the gallant sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives to liberate the country. Citizens will gather at different Heroes Acres throughout the country but the main commemorations will be at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.
This is the time when the nation pays homage to the country’s heroes and heroines who paid with their lives to liberate the country.
It is that time of the year when citizens reflect on the country’s achievements and failures since Independence in 1980. One of the biggest achievements that we look back with pride is the successful implementation of the land reform programme.
More than 300 000 families are now owners of land in areas that include what used to be a preserve of the white commercial farmers.
Most Zimbabweans before independence were confined to barren land while white commercial farmers occupied prime farming areas in different parts of the country. The skewed land ownership was one of the major grievances that drove Zimbabweans to take up arms to fight the settler regime.
The Government soon after independence embarked on a programme to resettle thousands of landless Zimbabweans but the process was moving at a snail’s pace due to resistance from white farmers.
In 2000 the landless Zimbabweans invaded farms owned by white commercial farmers to protest against the slow pace at which they were being resettled thereby prompting Government to embark on a fast track land resettlement programme. This has seen about 300 000 families being resettled throughout the country and what is encouraging is that most of these farmers have demonstrated that they have the capacity to fully utilise the land.
The gallant sons and daughters who sacrificed with their lives to get the land back to its rightful owners, should be smiling in their graves now that the country is self-sufficient in food.
Last year the country for the first time, harvested enough wheat to meet the nation’s annual consumption.
This year’s Heroes Day commemorations are unique in that they are coming just before the harmonised general elections to be held on 23 August.
We are being asked as citizens not to betray the gallant sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives by voting wisely.
It is not a secret that the ruling party Zanu-PF liberated this country and it is the party that corrected the skewed land ownership which was the major grievance of the freedom fighters.
We therefore have an obligation as citizens to jealously guard the freedom we are enjoying which we should not take for granted.
Those who colonised us yesterday are still fighting us economically hence the illegal sanctions imposed on the country for embarking on the land reform programme.
These are the same detractors causing divisions hence the need for Zimbabweans to remain united as we build the Zimbabwe we all want.
Online Reporter