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Innocent Mujeri
Correspondent
AS the country commemorates the Unity Day which is held annually on December 22, words of Ghanaian author, Lailah Gifty Akita that: “there is beauty and power in unity,” must be remembered by all Zimbabweans.
Akita again said: “We must be united in heart and mind and we must be one people.”
The Unity Day is an important day in the history of Zimbabwe as it marks the end of civil unrest that characterised the early years of our independence.
This is a very important day on Zimbabwe’s calendar as it is a day that brought together the two most important political formations in the country, PF ZAPU and ZANU PF after the signing of the Unity Accord.
The Unity Accord signed by our nationalists and forefathers, the late President Robert Mugabe and Vice President Joshua Nkomo, was a decisive factor in mapping the way for the country’s path to unity, peace and development that the nation enjoys today.
The basis of the 1987 Unity Accord was to unite our nation; establish peace, law and order and to guarantee social and economic development and political stability.
This unity and peace which is commemorated every December 22, has put the country in a unique position to develop without the hindrances of civil wars and mayhem characterising some nations globally.
Unity Day is a day to remind the country’s detractors that their divide and rule tactics to destabilise this country and cause Zimbabweans to be at each other’s throat has dismally failed.
It is also a day that Zimbabweans should know that we are one people regardless of tribe, religion or political affiliation.
As the country continues on its journey to prosperity, there is no doubt that the country’s leadership will continue to uphold and foster the tenets of peace and unity.
It has to be known that peace and unity remain an integral part of the country’s development agenda.
The simple definition of unity is the state or quality of being one, in accord and in harmony.
The idea creates connotations of an unbreakable force because of that singleness and oneness.
Therefore, as Zimbabweans, we must thrive to be one in our thinking, planning and doing.
We should know that the unity we enjoy today was as a result of the sacrifices of our forefathers, hence we should preserve it at all cost.
At the heart of national unity is the fact that we are all citizens of one country, with one flag.
We share a common history, sometimes with good parts, which we can remember and build on, sometimes with bad, even terrible parts that we need to remember, analyse and vow never to repeat.
We share, despite ideological, cultural and political differences, many of the same goals.
We all want a better country; we all want better education for our children; we all want decent and affordable health care; we all want economic development and more opportunities to earn a good living.
These goals unite us. We can argue, and must argue, over the best way of achieving these goals, but remembering that the journey is a process that never really ends.
The generation of today should know that the Unity Day we commemorate annually was born out of a resolution by the ZANU PF Youth League in 1996 which proposed that December 22, the day the Unity Accord was signed, be declared Unity Day.
Statutory Instrument 156 of 1997 was used a year later to gazette the day as a public holiday.
What Unity Day must therefore symbolise is both our essential unity, that we are walking together on the road to a better Zimbabwe, and that we have learned the lessons of our sometimes unfortunate history, that letting divisions spin out of control exacts a terrible price.
Another lesson is that all in political office, whatever their ideology, have a fundamental duty to show maturity as demonstrated on December 22, 1987, that our common humanity and common citizenship overrides all other divisions.
Unity Day in Zimbabwe should be a solemn day to celebrate the oneness of our nation and indeed a call for the country to remain united as one for the common causes of peace, development and security.
As citizens of Zimbabwe, we must remember that: “United We Stand and Divided We Fall”.
Time beckons us to continue to live in a spirit of togetherness, tolerance, sisterly and brotherly co-existence.
The unity we celebrate today goes beyond the limitations of ethnicity, race, political affiliation, religion, sex or gender. We must counter the rhetoric of hatred with love, compassion, unity and solidarity.
Let us on this day remember and celebrate the invaluable contributions to our hard won independence by both our fallen and living heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle.
Let it be the duty of every Zimbabwean to preserve and safeguard this unity as it is the vital ingredient for development.
Happy Unity Day Zimbabwe!
Online Reporter