What I am praying is to see Hon. Members as we come here for the first time that in our orientation course that is provided for by Parliament, we are again given a course or an insight into our national history, it widens our scope, it widens our horizons and it makes us capable of being able to tackle the issues that concern this nation. Allow me to read what is contained in the preamble to our Constitution. It says “We the people of Zimbabwe, United in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality and our heroic resistance to colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression,..” What this basically means is that our Constitution appreciates that we exist in diversity from different persuasions, different cultures, different political affiliation but what unites us together is the spirit that we were able as a country to liberate ourselves from the colonial bondage.
There is no doubt and obviously no debate that our history binds us together. It is our history together, it unites us, it defines who we are, it tells us where we are and it informs us where we are going. So, it becomes quite paramount that we must learn our national history. History is vital for mankind and must be understood with accuracy and precision. The moment we fail to articulate and understand our history, is also the moment we fail to entrench values of patriotism in our own selves.
Madam Speaker, allow me to define briefly what history is all about. History is an enquiry or knowledge acquired by investigation. It is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to human beings. It is an umbrella body or term that relates to past events. One major advantage of knowing, understanding and learning about our history is that it will assist us to be able to provide perspectives on current challenges that our nation faces.
Madam Speaker, allow me to just give highlights of this country’s history. It is a fact of history that architects of British colonialism were three men. The first one was Cecil John Rhodes, the second one was Dr Leander Starr Jameson and Alfred Beit, a wealthy German national who was also a banker. That is the fact of history. Madam Speaker, to invade the land, Cecil John Rhodes had to come up with what he termed a Pioneer Column in which he needed men of different professional attributes. In that Pioneer Column, 500 police officers were recruited to be able to police the country at that time. The land was parceled from the black minority to the majority of the whites that had colonised this country. Blacks were driven to arid and semi-arid areas where the soil was not productive. It is a fact of history Madam Speaker.
There was cheap labour that the whites during that time could get from the farms because the majority of the blacks that existed during that time had not gone to school. There was segregation, lack of sovereignty and a lot of taxation being imposed on the black majority. As a result of that, a struggle was waged against the white settler regime.
Madam Speaker, Parliament of Rhodesia at that material time, enacted a number of laws. I will cite some of laws that were enacted. The first law that was enacted was the Native Reserves Act, there was also the Masters and Servants Act, the African Labour Regulations Act, the Land Apportionment Act, Industrial Conciliation Act, the Land Husbandry Act, Tribal Trust Land Act and the Land Tenure Act. These Acts were promulgated in this august House with the intention to promote colonial hegemony. African nationalism then sprouted, people began revolt and fight against the white minority settler regime.
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