Online Reporter
Herald Reporters
ZIMBABWE’S founding leader Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a true revolutionary of unassailable credentials who led the liberation struggle for independence in 1980, President Mnangagwa has said.
He made the remarks in a statement yesterday as the nation commemorated the seventh anniversary of the death of Cde Mugabe.
The former president died on September 6, 2019, aged 95, after a lifetime dedicated to the liberation of Zimbabwe and the broader struggle against colonialism and apartheid on the African continent.
President Mnangagwa said Cde Mugabe’s contribution to the country’s liberation remained an enduring part of Zimbabwe’s history.
“A revolutionary of unassailable credentials, Cde R.G. Mugabe led our nation through a gruelling, protracted armed struggle against colonial rule, leading to the birth of our nation on 18th April 1980,” said President Mnangagwa.
Cde Mugabe served as Prime Minister from 1980 until December 1987, when he became Executive President, a position he held until his resignation in November 2017.
President Mnangagwa said Cde Mugabe’s commitment to the liberation of Zimbabwe was demonstrated by the sacrifices he made during the struggle, including 11 years in detention under the Rhodesian settler regime.
“True to his stature as the epitome of the indomitable spirit of resistance to the yoke of colonial bondage on the African continent, Cde Mugabe endured eleven years of incarceration by a settler colonial regime that was determined to perpetuate minority rule in our richly endowed Motherland,” he said.
Following his release from prison in 1974, Cde Mugabe left for neighbouring Mozambique in 1975, where he assumed a leading role in the decisive phase of the armed liberation struggle until the Lancaster House Conference in 1979.
“Throughout those difficult years, he remained steadfast and principled,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said Cde Mugabe, together with the late Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, remained resolute in defending the interests of Zimbabweans during and after the liberation struggle.
“Together with the late Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, Cde Mugabe resolutely defended the cause of the people of Zimbabwe throughout the struggle, and after our political Independence in 1980,” he said.
President Mnangagwa also paid tribute to Cde Mugabe’s Pan-Africanist credentials, which transcended Zimbabwe’s borders.
“A true son of the soil and a towering Pan-Africanist, Cde Mugabe would not rest until the last vestiges of colonial and apartheid imperialism were eliminated from the African continent,” he said.
He said Cde Mugabe worked with fellow African leaders, including the late Presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Agostinho Neto of Angola, Samora Machel of Mozambique and Seretse Khama of Botswana, through the Frontline States.
“In particular, the SADC sub-region attained political independence and democratic dispensations,” President Mnangagwa said.
President Mnangagwa highlighted Cde Mugabe’s role in the country’s land reform programme, which he described as the continuation of the liberation struggle after Independence.
“Never to be satisfied with titular political Independence, the Founding Father of our Nation led the Third Chimurenga for the recovery of our birthright, Land, through the Land Reform Programme,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the programme, together with investment in education and skills development, had laid the foundation for national empowerment.
“This epochal transformation of property relations, predicated on sound education and skills development programmes, placed our Nation in a leadership position in post-colonial Africa, laying a firm and durable base for empowerment and our Vision 2030,” he said. As the nation marked the anniversary, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans would continue to honour Cde Mugabe’s contribution to the country.
“As a people and a Nation, we continue to pay tribute to him, and to cherish the rich and priceless legacy he bequeathed to our Nation, and which is sure to inspire generations to come,” he said.
Cde Mugabe’s death marked the end of an era for Zimbabwe, where he had dominated the political landscape from the liberation struggle through the first 37 years of Independence.
