adminZimbabweans celebrate this year’s National Heroes Day on the back of historic milestones for the country, that is, the successful conclusion and adoption of a new home-grown Constitution and the widely endorsed harmonised elections held in July 2013.
Thousands of Zimbabweans are on Monday next week expected to converge at various provincial and district centres countrywide to celebrate this important day in honour of the gallant sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who laid down their lives to liberate the country from colonial rule.
Heroes Day is set aside to celebrate the lives of Zimbabweans, living and dead, who put their lives on the line to liberate Zimbabwe from successive settler regimes beginning with the First Chimurenga in 1896 to the Second Chimurenga that flared on April 27 1966, with the battle of Chinhoyi till the attainment of independence on April 18, 1980.
President Mugabe will lead the main celebrations at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, with provincial ministers of state officiating and reading his speech in the other nine provinces. Minister of State for Manicaland Cde Chris Mushohwe will lead the commemorations at the Manicaland Provincial Heroes Acre in Mutare and at Sakubva Stadium.
Indeed, Zimbabweans will be coming together for this revered national annual custom of commemorating and paying tribute to the fallen and living heroes of our liberation struggle, whose blood and suffering brought the cherished one-man-one-vote, the land and independence we call ours today.
The country is today a proud, independent and sovereign nation, thanks to these gallant sons and daughters of the soil. As we remember their immense sacrifices, we celebrate their selfless courage and bravery in confronting the settler colonial enemy.
However, our main struggle today continues on the path of socio-economic transformation, as the country strives to improve the standard of living of its people.
It is no secret that the country is confronted by a myriad of challenges, with the initial projected economic growth rate having been revised downwards, as companies continue to operate below capacity largely due to a tight liquidity crunch.
Owing to the illegal economic sanctions imposed on the country by Britain, the United States and their allies, the country’s manufacturing sector continues to exhibit signs of contraction and sluggish production volumes. Most companies in key sectors downsized their operations in order to contain costs, while others were forced to shut down due to unsustainable operational costs.
This is cause for great concern and it is our hope that the Government will, as a result, prioritise measures aimed at promoting the country’s exports and increasing their market share by focusing on areas where Zimbabwe has comparative advantage.
It is against this that the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, Zim-Asset, a vehicle launched by the Government to economically emancipate Zimbabweans should be put to effective work.
However, Zimbabweans should unite and work together for the successful implementation of Zim-Asset.
There is no doubt of the need to share a common vision to achieve the goals of Zim-Asset within the remaining four years.
The Zim-Asset four clusters, namely food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities and value addition and beneficiation, anchor the strong need to fully exploit the internal relationships and linkages that exist between the various facets of the economy.
The sphere of infrastructural development also needs urgent attention, particularly the critical sectors of power, water, roads and rail. As a result, Government should ensure that local authorities are assisted in providing better delivery of service to residents, rather than to keep chasing debts which the residents may have no capacity to pay.
As we join the nation in the celebrations, we urge Zimbabweans to go out in their numbers to celebrate the sacrifices made by the selfless sons and daughters of Zimbabwe to free the country from the colonial yoke.
Online Reporter