The Sunday Mail
Editor’s Brief
Victoria Ruzvidzo
In a few hours, 48 to be more precise, we celebrate our 43rd independence!
Ever since 1980, when I was very young, I have never taken the day for granted. Of course, at that age I did not understand much about politics or what the day really meant. All I knew was we had become free, and we spent days and more days singing and dancing in celebration.
We went to Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera and ate lots of meat and sadza until our stomachs could not take in any more food. That is when I realised some could walk like drunkards just from eating.
I have, thus, always associated April 18 with plenty of food and drink, spiced with so much joy. As years have gone by, I have realised that the food and drink are a reflection of the good life ushered in by those who sacrificed their lives and comfort to wage the liberation war.
Weekly, we carry the “Chimurenga Chronicles” that help us appreciate what the war was like and why it needed to be waged. Hats off to all who went to war. It was not easy at all. It was a dangerous mission. Someone had to pay the price.
So, it is then that we mark our independence.
A people need liberty and self-determination. The yoke of colonialism was a terrible one; it inflicted damage that is still evident today. The sheer bondage spawned calamity on a whole populace.
We have to agree that our independence is worth celebrating.
Independence marked release, emancipation, liberalisation and freedom.
Our colonisers were brutal and our parents experienced lives under a callous regime,whose motive was just self-serving. Whites did not come here for benevolence. They did so to advance their own interests.
They indeed were single-minded in their pursuit, to the extent that they caused untold suffering to people.
It is not lost that Zimbabwe is not the only country that underwent struggles. Just about the entire continent did.
We run a series on our struggles, referred to above, and that is not inadvertent. Its a realisation of where we came from and we need to tell the stories.
We need to inculcate in our youths, especially, what it took to make Zimbabwe what it is. We come from a tortured past.
We are a people who went through the most harrowing experiences. We endured the most gruesome acts. We triumphed in the end. That is why independence means so much to us.
We drive cars, have homes and we walk freely. We send kids to schools of our choice. We are no longer scared to do all we want. That is the definition of freedom.
What does independence mean? We have people whose lives were dramatically changed by the processes that entailed its attainment.
I have spoken to some prisoners who have said the worst part of prison is lack of freedom.
Humans were born to be free. They were born to express themselves, however that happens.
When restricted, one gets a tortured soul, a poisoned mind.
Our President was a victim, an experience he articulated so well in our interview with him two years ago. It sure was not a walk in a rose garden.
A people have the right to determine their destiny. Self-determination is an inalienable right. That is cast in stone. It simply is an immutable fact.
It is equally a fiduciary function that every people ensure its existence. It does not happen that people just let things go. When they do, then there are inexplicable challenges.
People died, people were shot at, they were maimed, some left relatives and others are unknown about their fate to this day. The trauma war induces is huge,practically unquantifiable.
It is a sad commentary we had to go through this.
Yet we had to, for our sovereignty, independence, liberty and self-determination. It is not our fault that we are richly endowed. Perhaps the question no longer is what does independence mean; it should be what should it mean.
We gained political and economic independence. That puts a certain responsibility on each and everyone of us.
Government can only facilitate. It simply cannot do everything, even if it wanted to. It is beyond its capacity.
We are a free people. We move along those lines.
We need to act in our various spheres to take the country forward.
It is then that we celebrate independence. We are now masters of our own destiny.
This year’s theme “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo” should not be taken as a mere string of great shona words but it needs to be operationalised.
We have seen many take it up seriously.
However, in our midst, we still have those who think someone from somewhere has the responsibility to build this country. Such individuals have to be disabused of that notion.
There is space for everyone to build this country from their small corner and this will result in the building of the Zimbabwe we want.
Vision 2030, along with its economic policy, the National Development Strategy 1, is pregnant with goals and aspirations this country needs to achieve. This document must find expression in all we do.
It behoves us to take our hoes and picks in the literal and metaphorical senses to develop our country and achieve the upper middle-income economy status that we desire to taste within the next few years.
We have witnessed a meeting of minds among key stakeholders and we have noted support from friends and partners.
We need to consolidate this and build the Zimbabwe our brothers and sisters sacrificed for, a Zimbabwe flowing with milk and honey.
It is possible and it can be done.
Happy Independence Zimbabwe!
In God I Trust!
Twitter handle: @VictoriaRuzvid2; Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; WhatsApp number: 0772 129 972.
