Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mangagwa today said the hosting of the country’s 43rd Independence celebrations at Mt Darwin, which he referred to as Mt Pfura, had proved that any community could host the national event.
Writing in his weekly column in the Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa said every community will therefore be given a chance to host the celebrations until development reaches every nook and cranny of the remotest parts of the country’s rural areas.
“All communities must own and play host to our national events, so none is left behind and uninvolved,” Mnangagwa said.
“As we decentralise the hosting of these national events, we must also leave commemorative footprints in these communities by way of new structures and modern amenities, which will forever remind those communities that once upon a time, they hosted our whole nation as it remembered and celebrated.”
Mnangagwa said the two-day celebrations in Mt Darwin were a tribute to communities that had suffered longest and endured some of the worst atrocities for that glorious independence day to come.
“We owed it to them, and I am happy that this troubling debt has finally been symbolically paid, so many years into our Independence,” he said.
“Except it is a debt that remains partly paid until all rural communities which make up our nation, and which, thus, played a direct role in the national struggle as it took its protracted, tortuous and bloody course, have had a chance to concretely own and physically host our Independence Day.
“And until development reaches every nook and cranny of the remotest of our rural areas, themselves theatres of the War of Liberation.”
Mnangagwa also paid tribute to veterans of the armed struggle, singling out one of his former archi-rivals Joyce Mujuru, for attending the celebrations.
“The debt we owe them is irrepayable. This is the least we can do to honour them. Through them and through our former Vice President, Amai Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru, widow of our late Commander and National Hero, General Solomon “Rex” Mujuru, I want to thank all our veterans for this great day which they made, and for honouring our invitation. Through such commemorations, we honour them.”
Full article:
LAST week, on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th April, Mashonaland Central province’s Mt Pfura hosted our nation as it commemorated two foremost days on our national calendar, namely, our Independence and the Children’s Party that precedes it. This was the first time since 1980 that such momentous occasions were hosted by, and held at a rural district centre.
Zimbabweans from different corners of our country, drawing from different walks of life; Zimbabweans of all manner, colour, creed, language, tribe and culture converged at Mt Pfura Centre in Mashonaland Central.
What a time and occasion it turned out to be!
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