Mnangagwa says Mt Darwin proves that any community can host Independence Day celebrations- pays tribute to Joyce Mujuru

Barely two weeks before, I had attended a Centenary Celebration of Catholic Jesuits at St Joseph’s, Kezi, in Matabeleland South. Some of the church leaders had met with us in Zambia, during the Liberation Struggle, to remind us of the importance of national unity.

I also spent a day with Wesleyans, before joining one of the independent African churches, the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), at their headquarters in Bikita. Founder bishops of almost all these independent African Apostolic churches had long prophesied the coming of our Independence, even getting persecuted for those prophesies. Many of our cadres came from such traditions of the church and mission schools, which also hosted them, fed and healed them in times of injuries.

The Church remains an integral part of our Independence; we are happy it joined us at Mt Pfura. I want to thank all our churches for this positive and supportive disposition on the occasion of our National Day, and for their daily prayers for the timeless continuance of our nation and its spiritual well-being.

I was humbled by the presence at the Mt Pfura festivities of leaders from different political parties, collectively grouped under the umbrella of Political Actors Dialogue, POLAD.

These are leaders who, soon after our 2018 elections, took the positive and laudable step of joining hands with the winning Party and our Government to push forward peace, unity and development in our nation. They boldly decided on, and charter, a new course for our nation, previously threatened and held back by election-related rancour and divisions. Because of that noble stance which they took, the reflex of reconciling winners and losers after any election is gathering root in our national politics and political character.

With time, it shall abide. Indeed, such broad, non-partisan participation makes all our national events truly national, embodying the sense and conviction that there is always a united nation after every plebiscite. I heartily thank all our political leaders who graced this all-important national event.

Our civil servants, led by my Office and several Government ministries, went all out to ensure all was in place for these two important days. They worked closely with numerous service providers who made various inputs towards this great event. I thank them heartily, including departments that made sure landmark roads and other physical infrastructures were in place, ahead of those two days. I cannot thank them enough.

Our security establishment discharged its role admirably. We all felt secure, which is why everything proceeded smoothly, without incident. They went beyond the call of duty and made sure Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans were safe: by way of lives, limbs, on roads, in cities, towns, at growth points and communities, as, indeed, they always do. They also made sure all ceremonies and displays were done with remarkable precision, even treating us to breath-taking acrobatics. That gave our Independence commemorations colour and a gripping carnivalesque mood. Again, I heartily thank all our security arms for the remarkable synergies and admirable execution of their duties.

In the same vein, I thank all our artistes, led by our musicians, who headlined the Independence Gala. I thoroughly enjoyed mass displays made by learners drawn from local schools. I was able to watch part of the musical gala on the screen, until sleep stole and overcame me. I went to rest fully satisfied that here was a nation at peace, jubilantly celebrating a day it treasures.

Thank you all, our artistes, in your different categories and genres. You truly kept up the spirit of celebration through displays, drama, song and dance, harkening to those days of our struggle. Indeed, Zimbabwe is the land of song, dance and other creative art forms, which Government must support.

A precedent has now been set by Mt Pfura. Going forward, we have no excuse to keep national festivities restricted to cities and towns. All communities must own and play host to our national events, so none is left behind and uninvolved. 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.

Again, thank you Mt Pfura and Mashonaland Central as a whole for hosting a resoundingly successful National Day.

By President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the Sunday Mail

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