Tsvangirai’s independence message- sinking poverty and extreme suffering not worth celebrating

I want to promise that the new government we will create in 2018 will accord our war veterans their due respect and meet their deserved welfare requirements as we said they should get in the Constitution that we made ourselves as a people.

Let us not allow the privatization of this great day in a manner that diminishes its true worth. Let us not allow the stripping of our dignity by this uncaring Zanu PF regime and the abandonment of the cause for which so many died.

Indeed, we must always cherish the heroism of the people of this land and the brutal struggle we waged to reclaim our rights, particularly the right to vote.

As we brace for next year’s watershed election, I urge Zimbabweans to unite and put the country first. I urge Zimbabweans of all shades and political affiliation to prioritize Zimbabwe and to put the collective national interest above everything else.

Whether Zanu PF or MDC, or any other political party for that matter, every Zimbabwean must ask themselves whether we really deserve this suffering in a country for which so many paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Let us put aside all our differences, harness our diversity and vote for the man or woman who will shepherd this country to the greatness it deserves; a leader who values our nationhood and collective dignity more than the colour of our party cards.

We have seen how those in the seat of government have taught us to hate and kill each other and not to harness our differences for the greater national good.

Fellow Zimbabweans, let us use the opportunity next year to poise our country for growth, inclusion, unity and development. There has been so much hatred in the past; needless hatred that in 2008 cost us a glorious opportunity to move forward.

Indeed, as I have said before, none of us have any reason to fear the change that is now imminent upon this our beloved country in 2018.

That change will be good for everyone. The benefits of that change will not be selective. That positive change will seek no retribution against anyone but will only spur us to live in harmony as Zimbabweans, regardless of our ethnic and political diversity.

In the new Zimbabwe, our differences and diversity will not be a weakness; rather they will represent our collective national strength. In the celebration of our kaleidoscopic differences, we must be able to live and travel the journey of life together, without violence, without hatred and without inflicting any harm to our fellow citizen. Only then can we stand high on the shoulders of our heroes and heroines who brought us this independence that we so cherish today.

Yes, in the new Zimbabwe that starts in 2018, we must proudly celebrate our differences. We must be able to proudly declare that we are a citizenry worthy of the copious quantities of sweat, tears and blood that was shed for this land that we all love.

Happy independence day, Zimbabwe

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