dyton mupawaenda
Sam Matema-Herald Correspondent
April 18 1980 was the day that our independence was declared.
There are. however. other significant days and places that form an important piece of our history leading up to an independent Zimbabwe.
National Independence speaks to self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity and all attendant freedoms.
In the case of former colonies, independence came about in different ways. And in the case of Zimbabwe, it was born out of a protracted and bloody 16-year war of liberation which took the selfless and unparalleled sacrifice of the sons and daughters of our motherland who gave their lives as the ultimate price to free and redeem our country from the shackles of colonialism and the weight of the excesses of the Ian Smith regime.
Independence gives a nation the ability to give its citizens a voice on matters of governance (input legitimacy) and the ability of a State to meet the demands of its citizens on matters of resource allocation and their success (output legitimacy).
The sovereign right giving birth to both input and output legitimacy, should be located properly in the context of the bloody war of liberation, and historically significant places like Dzapasi Assembly Point’s place and space should be amplified.
That history must be captured correctly, and we must guard it jealousy from the hand of revisionists. They revise and distort history to serve narrow narratives, agendas and interests.
Significance of Dzapasi Assembly Point
It is at Dzapasi Assembly Point where the Union Jack was lowered down and the Zimbabwean flag was hoisted signifying the end of an era, the end of the beginning, the death of colonialism.
The event at Rufaro stadium on April 18 1980 was symbolic, otherwise history records that Dzapasi Assembly Point was and is the place where it all happened.
Other than being the biggest assembly point in the whole country, being home to more than 17 000 comrades, the late Cde Rex Nhongo (General Solomon Mujuru,) oversaw the lowering of the Union Jack at Dzapasi, and the soldiers were euphoric, electric and expectant building up to the symbolic event at Rufaro stadium on April 18 1980.
It is on that basis that history demands that we accord and afford Dzapasi Assembly Point the respect that she deserves. A national and significant monument that was designated 37 years after independence, thanks to the pragmatism of the Second Republic and President Mnangagwa.
Great and huge opportunities
Through the celebration of independence in Buhera and the lighting of the Independence flame at Dzapasi Assembly Point national monument, hope has been restored in more ways than one.
Hope for a great future predicated on a restorative approach to all the pieces of history scattered and evident across all the three bases, that made Dzapasi Assembly Point, and that great future will crystallise into reality via sustainable growth and development.
This is a great and huge opportunity for re-orientation, re-orientation of the majority of our youths so that we bequeath to posterity a correct account of our history pregnant with selfless sacrifices for the greater good.
It is that history that should shape the opinion and inform decisions of the future generations with the sole hope and objective to build and deliver sufficient inter-generational and historical equity.
As we carry some restorative work at Dzapasi, it would be good to set up a school of ideology so that those that come for training, can easily connect with the spirit and echoes of those that sacrificed for the total emancipation of the people of Zimbabwe.
There is also a huge opportunity for tourism with Dzapasi being the fulcrum of it all, packaged together with other tourist attractions in Matendera National, Kagumbudzi, Muchuchu monuments, Ruti dam, Marovanyati dam, our own Table mountain — Gombe mountain and the balancing rocks in Marabada hills. There is great potential for both domestic and international tourism built around the great monument called Dzapasi Assembly Point.
This is also an opportunity to transform health delivery in Buhera.
Dzapasi is at the heart and centre of Buhera District geographically.
This is also the time to have a serious conversation around the establishment of a Government hospital in the area.
A Government district hospital should ameliorate the pain and burden of many across the district.
Dzapasi Assembly Point presents an opportunity to fix the key roads that feed and link to a very important national and historical asset, Dzapasi national monument, that is at the centre of the district.
Because it is envisaged that those that will be visiting this important national monument will come from all directions, it is only prudent that we fix the Murambinda-Birchenough Bridge road.
This is a key enabler that will unlock value around Dzapasi and beyond. We have a listening President, and because he is a servant leader, we can only but consider it done. It is finished!
Education as sustainable development goal
With great appreciation and recognising the role that Dzapasi Assembly Point played, mindful of the absence of a boarding school to serve both Buhera Central and South, upgrading of the existing infrastructure at Chiurwi secondary school will be in order. We build from the already existing infrastructure. It works out cheaper.
Vocational Training Centres
VTCs will capacitate locals through vocational training and skills development. Locals will acquire new skills across a whole range of fields that will align with the Vision 2030 agenda. Setting up the centre at the heart of the district makes economic, political and geographical sense.
Rural development and industrialisation
Agriculture will push the district up the scaffold in a very big way because of its capacity to absorb many people.
With the thrust being to have 10 000 community gardens across the country to support irrigation, with respect to Buhera, areas in agro-ecological regions 4 and 5, should be caused to do traditional grains only. We will ensure food security because the crops are drought tolerant and show resilience in the face of moisture stress.
Life is an echo
What Dzapasi Assembly Point gave is what she is getting back. She is being rewarded for her role in protecting, sheltering and covering the more than 17 000 gallant fighters of the war of liberation.
“The biggest Assembly point at ceasefire for the brave and selfless liberation fighters who subordinated their individual lives to the collective interest of Zimbabwe leading to the attainment of independence on the 18th of April 1980”.
What is most gratifying is the fact that there is convergence across ministries, primarily Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Defence, War Veterans, Tourism and Hospitality, Primary and Secondary Education and Local Government, that we need to attend to the restorative work at Dzapasi across the board with the urgency of the moment.
Because the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe pronounced himself through his mantra, ‘Living no one and no place behind’, Dzapasi Assembly Point is no exception, it is one of those places and all those around her environs are counted.
There is great hope for the future growth and development of Dzapasi and that future is quite bright hinged on both the input and output legitimacy which is never is short supply under the stewardship of the Second Republic directed President Mnangagwa.
Thanks to our independence, the future looks bright. Inviting!
Cde Sam Matema is the MP for Buhera Central constituency and ZANU PF Manicaland Province Spokesperson, and writes here in his personal capacity.
Online Reporter