Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino,Zimpapers Politics Hub
THE inclusion of the black majority in the mainstream economy coupled with the transfer of ownership of means of production in key sectors to locals is a reality that Zimbabwean youths must defend as the country strides towards economic transformation, the Deputy Secretary for the Commissariat in the ZANU PF Youth League Cde Taurai Kandishaya has said.
In an interview ahead of the 45th Independence Day celebrations on April 18 in Nembudziya, Gokwe, Cde Kandishaya who is also the Africa Youth Congress chair said the provision of platforms to access equal economic opportunities for the youth should enable a sense of patriotic responsibility.
He thanked President Mnangagwa for decentralising Independence Day celebrations, and leading the devolution agenda.
This strategy, Cde Kandishaya said, has been useful in ensuring that development is spread evenly to formerly marginalised places.
This year’s celebrations are themed “Zim@45: Devolve and Develop Together Towards Vision 2030,” which underlines the Second Republic’s commitment to fostering inclusive national development through devolution.
Cde Kandishaya implored the youth to remain brave and emulate the selfless sacrifices made by the nationalist generation in particular through initiating the Land Reform Programme.
“As young people, we are no longer fighting using guns because we went to school, we are fighting using ideas. Our forebearers instructed us to offload weapons and embark on the thrust of developing this nation fighting a new economic war where we seek sustainable economic liberation or sustainable economic freedoms,” he said.
“In this fight we aim to take full control of our means of production, take full control of our land and not only to take it, but to use it so that we have its full ownership,” Cde Kandishaya said.
Before Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme in 2000, nearly 2000 former white commercial farmers owned at least 80 percent of prime land while the black majority were on unproductive land.
To date, over 360 000 households have benefitted from the agrarian programme with President Mnangagwa last December launching a broader effort to grant full ownership rights to farmers.
Cde Kandishaya said based on progress made on land heritage reclamation, detractors who want to claim ownership of the liberation struggle and disparage liberation heroes should not be listened to.
Speaking on the recent visit to Zimbabwe by the president of South Africa’s ANC Youth League Collen Malatji, Cde Kandishaya said the ZANU PF Youth League will continue working with sister liberation movements to advance fraternal solidarity.
“We fought the liberation struggle with the support of others, we couldn’t do it in isolation. We started our liberation struggle in Mozambique and Zambia, having our comrades trained in Tanzania, Egypt, China and Russia. The principle they used was that an injury to one is an injury to all.
“The only thing that imperialists are afraid of is solidarity and unity of purpose. This solidarity among our parties opened corridors to freedom and we cannot stop that solidarity today,” he added.
