adminBelow we publish the full speech delivered by the Acting President Emerson Mnangagwa at Cde Peter Tapera Chanetsa’s burial at National Heroes Acre in Harare yesterday.The bereaved Chanetsa family; The acting Minister of Home Affairs Cde Joseph Made; Members of the Politburo and Central Committee here present and of course Hon A Mnangagwa, Amai Mnangangwa who is here;
The President of the Senate Amai Edna Madzongwe as represented; The speaker of National Assembly, Adv Jacob Mudenda represented by the deputy speaker Amai Chinomona;
The Chief Justice Hon Godfrey Chidyausiku; Cabinet Ministers here present;
The Minister for Harare Metropolitan Province, Hon Chikukwa;
The Mayor of Harare, Councillor Manyeyeni as represented;
The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Sibanda;
Senior Government officials;
Representatives of the Women’s League;
Representatives of the Youth League;
Our Service Chiefs;
Acting Prosecutor General Adv Goba;
Attorney General Adv Machaya;
Our religious leaders here present;
War veterans, Collaborators, Detainees and Restrictees;
Members of the diplomatic corps;
Fellow mourners;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Comrades and friends.
In the early hours of Monday 2nd of January 2017, Cde Peter Tapera Chanetsa passed on.
His sudden departure caught us all unawares, leaving us in a state of deep bewilderment and grief.
On behalf of his Excellency, the President, Head of State and Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G Mugabe, who in spite of being away is with us in this hour of grief.
Of the party ZANU PF to which Cde Chanetsa steadfastly belonged as its long time member of Government, which he served in various capacities and on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the Chanetsa family, especially Amai Chanetsa and children.
No doubt this a very difficult moment for them all, we all know what they are going through as family, having lost a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle and a loving guardian.
They now have to face the future without a breadwinner.
However, may their grief be relieved somewhat by the knowledge that we are together in mourning Cde Chanetsa’s sudden and untimely demise.
Above all may they derive abundant pride from the fact that Zimbabwe, whose freedom and prosperity Peter struggled and worked for, is now free.
And today honours pay tribute to him today in this very special way.
When Peter’s home province of Mashonaland West recommended that he be considered for national hero status, consultations within the Politburo, it was just a matter of formality.
Because the one we gathered to lay to rest here today had long earned his place at this scared shrine.
We worked with him in Tanzania, as we struggled for the independence of this great country of Zimbabwe.
We were with him at Lancaster House Conference for the negotiations with the British for the formal decolonisation of our beloved country.
At Independence he came back to be part and parcel of that crop of brave and committed cadres who gave their utmost to ensure that the newly independent state of Zimbabwe would be a success for the first day of inaugural.
Then and quite often, commitment to self and family took a back seat as these pioneering men and women burned the midnight oil to ensure that the toddler that Zimbabwe was would quickly grow in dignity and firm against a watchful and not always sympathetic world.
Peter played his part and as the first Chief of Protocol, he played it all in full glare of a watchful world.
Alongside many other founding cadres, we thus thank him immensely for helping the then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, now President, go through that delicate period of the formative life of our beloved nation.
As we heard from the family, Peter was born on July 15, 1946 in the then Sinoia, now Chinhoyi.
He did his primary education first at a Salvation Army school in Chinhoyi and later at Donnybrook School in Mabvuku here in the then Salisbury, now Harare.
Against all-round racism and oppression, Peter had to leave the country for Tanzania where he had to play his part in the struggle for national independence.
Given his tender age, he was given an opportunity to resume his studies, which he did at Kangaramba Secondary School in Tanzania.
Upon completing Standard 12, Cde Peter Chanetsa worked closely with the ruling Chama Chamapinduzi in places like Dodoma in Chamwino, in the process getting exposed to nationalistic politics of the time.
By 1974, he was ripe enough politically to be assigned party office in Dar e Salam; here he conducted security and protocol duties.
At our congress in exile in Chimoio, he was appointed the party protocol chief for East Africa. The new posting entailed leading advance party teams to major conferences which the party would attend.
A major highlight of the delicate assignment was the preparation of the 1979 Lancaster House Conference when Cde Chanetsa had to go ahead of the main delegation to ensure that sound logistical and protocol arrangements for the leadership were in place.
It was a tall order. But working with the likes of Dr Frederick Shava, our current representative to the United Nations, the assignment was carried out professionally and without glitches. After the Lancaster House Conference, the party sent him to the United States of America for the 1980 general elections.
Following the elections, which we won resoundingly, Peter joined the others in working on the formal processes leading to our lndependence on 18 April, 1980.
Thereafter, he was appointed the country’s first chief of protocol, yet another sensitive and demanding job which he discharged extremely well, laying a firm foundation of protocol which we still depend upon till this day.
Such is his enduring contribution among numerous others in the building of a post-independence democracy.
Public duties were always intertwined with party work, he assumed different party posts in his home province of Mashonaland West. By the time of his untimely death, he was a member of the Central Committee.
He attended all meetings, making significant contributions to the shaping of policies within the party.
His vast experience and exposure to the struggle and Government and as a Member of Parliament turned him into a veritable fountain of knowledge.
Little wonder then that in 1996, His Excellency the President and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G Mugabe, saw it befitting to appoint him Governor and Resident Minister of Mashonaland West province.
His tenure as Governor and Resident Minister of Mashonaland West province marked the highest point in his post-lndependence career as a public servant and a leader who extended true servant leadership.
His Governorship covered the early phase of our radical land reform programme.
His Governorship too placed him in the firing line of most former white farmers who had made fortunes out of tobacco and were prepared to defend their privileges, most notably in the Banket area.
Cde Chanetsa had to contend with such a hugely networked crop of white farmers who never brooked leaving the land that had given them such riches.
He stood firm and upright in spite of the many temptations that came his way.
He stood for the landless blacks. It was not easy.
We will forever thank and remember him for playing such a critical role at that time.
As we gather to lay Cde Peter Chanetsa at in his final resting place, I implore the nation to recall his service.
Above all let us remember what he did to ensure the success of our land reform programme.
Today, we gloat and tell the world that our land reform programme is irreversible.
It is because of such cadres that we managed to achieve this state of irreversibility.
Let us ensure that the land we have acquired is utilised to the fullest. This agricultural season saw Government rolling out our Command Agriculture programme whose key objectives are to ensure food security and economic recovery.
This three-year programme should see us regain and reassert our status as the breadbasket of Southern Africa. The rains are good, the vital support from Government has been forthcoming.
Therefore, for those of us who are on the land that Cde Peter Chanetsa delivered to us, let there be no excuse for non utilisation of the land.
For those on the Command Agriculture programme, we expect you to deliver on the promise you made when you joined the programme. We need you to account for the inputs you drew from the programme.
Above all, the nation expects you to justify your continued occupancy of the piece of land apportioned to you ahead of all other Zimbabweans. We are currently receiving good rains which are conducive to a good harvest.
Let us not miss this opportunity.
Government will come up with a mechanism for a scientific land audit based on each individual farmer’s performance.
Our ultimate goal as Government is to attain food self sufficiency, as we strive towards strengthening our home grown economy which is largely agro based.
That way we teach posterity that the land we liberated and sacrificed for should be utilised for the benefit and prosperity of our people to ensure food self-sufficiency.
Go well Peter, Go well son of the soil.
We will miss you solemnly. Rest in eternal peace our brave national hero Peter.
I thank you.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter