Londile Moyo
TOMORROW, President Mnangagwa will headline the national event of the 46th Independence Day celebrations at Maphisa Growth Point, Matobo District in Matabeleland South Province.
This year’s commemoration will be held under the theme, Zim@46 — Unity and Development Towards Vision 2030.
Preparations for the event have been going on over the past few months at various district and provincial centres, as well as the national one. Roads, stadia, and health care facilities have been rebuilt. Multiple new facilities have been built from scratch, including science laboratories, classroom blocks and houses, especially in Matabeleland South, to ensure that the province is ready to host the national ceremony as well as to leave a legacy.
Thousands are expected at Maphisa as well as several provincial and district centres, at which people will congregate tomorrow to mark this very important moment on the national calendar.
Today, the President will host up to 2 500 kids at the Children’s Party at Mahetshe Primary School, also in Matobo. Traditionally held on the eve of Independence Day, the party is vital in that authorities use it to inculcate into the young minds the spirit of nationalism, sacrifice and selflessness, the foundational values that drove thousands to rise against colonial misrule until the attainment of freedom on April 18, 1980.
After the speeches, marches and so on tomorrow morning to afternoon, the national focus will shift to Minda High School, still in Matobo District, at which the Independence Gala will be staged starting from the evening to Sunday morning.
We are delighted to be celebrating our 46th birthday together with all patriots.
As we celebrate, we always honour the courageous boys and girls, men and women who sacrificed to fight for the liberation of their country.
Some waged a silent but brave fight against colonial rule, while others were open about it. They sang, wrote, marched and underwent military training to actually carry guns to take on the Ian Smith regime.
We pummelled that injustice so convincingly that Smith and his ragtag were quick to Lancaster House in London for a settlement, which brought about Independence.
We heartily honour the people who made this possible. Some are still with us, but others fell during the protracted struggle, which started in 1896 and ended in defeat in the following year before it resumed in 1966 and ended in a crushing victory for the masses on April 18, 1980.
We are now in the next phase of the struggle, which is geared towards economic freedom. But as we fight that struggle, we don’t forget that we are fighting it based on the military victory achieved in 1980.
We are encouraged by the progress that the country has made since the formative years of the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive in the 1990s, to the land redistribution programme in the early 2000s, the success that new black farmers are scoring on the land and the wider role that citizens are playing in mining, manufacturing, tourism, construction and so on.
Online Reporter