Chronicle Editor
Thousands of Zimbabweans on Tuesday, April 18, converged at different centres across the country to celebrate the country’s 43rd Independence Day and this year’s main celebrations were held at Mt Darwin High School in Mashonaland Central province.
The citizens who thronged the different centres for the Uhuru celebrations, we want to believe, took the opportunity to take stock of the country’s achievements since 1980 when the country was freed from the yoke of colonialism.
The country’s gallant sons and daughters sacrificed their lives to liberate the country and they should be smiling in their graves after Government successfully implemented the land reform programme.
More than 300 000 families are now owners of land in areas that include what used to be a preserve of the white commercial farmers. Most Zimbabweans before independence were confined to barren land while white commercial farmers occupied prime farming areas in different parts of the country.
The skewed land ownership was one of the major grievances that drove Zimbabweans to take up arms to fight the settler regime.
In his address at the Independence Day celebrations in Mt Darwin, President Mnangagwa said apart from addressing the skewed land ownership, the Second Republic has since 2018 completed more than 7 000 high impact life-changing projects across the country.
He said the challenge now is to sustain the development momentum and every citizen should therefore put shoulder to the wheel. Government has constructed roads, dams and other such infrastructure as it works to modernise every part of the country in order to transform the people’s livelihoods.
What is encouraging is that most of the development projects are being implemented by local companies, a confirmation that the country has the required skilled manpower. The country has achieved food security and is now working to regain its status as the region’s breadbasket. This 2022/2023 cropping season, the country expects to harvest more than 3,2 million tonnes of cereals against an annual consumption of 2,2 million tonnes.
President Mnangagwa has said the challenges facing the country can only be overcome if people work as a collective and the farmers who were allocated land under the land reform programme have taken heed hence the increased productivity.
The country is however, under siege from both internal and external detractors that are peddling falsehoods to destabilise the peace and tranquillity that citizens are enjoying.
The coming together of Zimbabweans from all walks of life to celebrate independence yesterday should have shamed the detractors. We want at this juncture to urge all citizens to continue working hard to build the Zimbabwe we all want. Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo/ Ilizwe Lakhiwa Ngabaninilo.
Online Reporter