We cannot afford to be divided

Dr Obert Mpofu

PATRIOTISM is a virtue we must all strive to possess. Some would want to claim proprietorship over us by behaving as if they are superior to everyone else.

However, no one can claim ownership of the liberation struggle — It was not a one-man show.

Many paid the ultimate price and never lived to see a free Zimbabwe.

Likewise, some in our journey will not live to see a prosperous Zimbabwe.

The thing about a journey towards emancipation is that a sizeable number of our comrades will always be left behind.

There are those who feel aggrieved and have decided to take matters into their own hands.

This is not the right path.

They should be reminded of what we fought for.

They should be reminded that there is no profit in destroying what we have already achieved.

It was a long journey to get to where we are, and we still have a long road ahead.

It is never as simple and easy as some would want to believe.

It comes at a heavy price.

Our national independence came at a huge cost.

We cannot afford to be divided.

We owe at least that much to those who laid down their lives so that we would be forever free in our land.

They gave us the ultimate gift — the land, the ability to self-govern and the opportunity to pursue our national aspirations.

As our 45th independence anniversary draws near, let us all be reminded of the importance of safeguarding this great gift that was bequeathed upon us by those who paid with their lives.

Independence Day for some of us invokes deep, profound and overwhelming emotions.

I have often argued that even for the comrades who did not lose their lives, their hearts and minds never made it back from the bushes and trenches where we engaged the enemy to gain our hard-fought freedom.

This is why most comrades do not wish to relive those traumatic moments, for many a time we were always facing death.

It was made even worse at each turn when we would learn of the demise of fellow comrades at the hands of the brutal Ian Smith regime.

For most of the young people in Zimbabwe, Independence Day is just but a day on the calendar, but for some of us, the hardened and seasoned war veterans, it was putting our lives on the line every day that ushered in the independence that some are taking for granted today.

It has to be remembered that our independence came at a price; it should never be taken for granted.

Initially, when we went to war, we were fighting a formidable enemy; one we had no idea we would defeat.

Each day that the quest for independence persisted, our hopes were renewed and the thought of a free and prosperous land that was governed by the black majority was all that kept us going.

For some opposition zealots to claim that the Smith regime was better is not only disrespectful to those who laid down their lives for us to be where we are today, but it is sheer ignorance.

In fact, I would equate such warped thinking to mental illness.

The conditions that existed during the reign of terror that was Rhodesia were such that the black man was treated worse than a dog, criminalised, objectified and stripped of all dignity.

I suspect that the imperialists’ intention was to strip the black people of all identity and humanity in order to subjugate them.

By now, having gone through history and evidence of the brutality and oppressive nature of the former colonial masters, our people should have become fully awakened to the grim realities of the ill-treatment the black man endured.

Colonialism left a deep scar on our people, such that close to half a century since we attained independence, it still is a struggle to decolonise our people.

The quest to free the minds of our people and undo some of the damage caused by colonialism is something that will go on for the longest time.

Let us draw inspiration from those who perished for us to be free and do the needful, which is to jealously guard the gains of the national liberation struggle.

This is the duty that is expected of every Zimbabwean.

By so doing, everything else will fall in place. As we approach the 45th Independence Day celebrations, let us remember and focus on what is important to us as a nation, for we still have a long way ahead.

Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is an academic and the Secretary-General of ZANU PF. He writes in his own capacity.