adminThe Herald, April 10, 1980
SALISBURY Municipality is to build an independence archway on airport road, a municipal spokesman said yesterday.
The archway would be built on Queensway at the municipal boundary, which was Salisbury Drive, the spokesman said.
“The archway will be simply two towers with lattice work in between. It will have bunting and lights on it for the independence period,” he said.
The wording on the archway had not been decided yet but it would probably be: “Salisbury sunshine city of Zimbabwe, welcomes you,” facing the airport, and “Salisbury sunshine city of Zimbabwe-farewell,” on the side facing the city.
Construction of the archway is due to start today. Full-size copies of Zimbabwe’s new flag will not be on sale to the public next week, a spokesman for the manufacturers said yesterday.
The flags measuring 1,8m by 0,9m are being made locally. As the materials has had to imported, the company is able to meet only the Government’s order of 600 flags.
Bunting is the word at a Salisbury clothing manufacturers – 150 000 metres of it. This is their target for the celebrations next week.
The manager, Mr S. Patel, said his company was the only one in Salisbury producing bunting and, as permission to use the national colours (green, gold, red, black and white) had been granted only at the beginning of this week, they would be working “through the night” to produce enough.
Mr Patel said his company was not new to making bunting, the triangular flags on strings used to decorate streets.
They did the same job for the Zambian and Malawi independence celebrations.
“But then we had a year in which to do everything,” he said.
Mr Patel said the Salisbury Municipality had already ordered 10 000 metres of bunting. The first batch was being finished yesterday.
Most of the demand would be from large organisations and commercial firms, he said, but his company was prepared to sell single packs to the public if there was a demand.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
The Independence archway is an important landmark in the country and is uniquely positioned along Joshua Nkomo Road. It is the first milestone that greets visitors to the country.
The archway is a reminder of the precious independence that Zimbabweans enjoy that was won through the shedding of innocent blood.
Celebrating an important occasion such as independence requires a lot of planning and people tasked to perform specific duties need to be always on their toes and to be ready to put in an extra shift.
Online Reporter