THE happy gatherings that converged at various centres to celebrate our 43rd national birthday demonstrated the high level of unity that the Second Republic has maintained. People of different demographics, religious and educational profiles all united as one, as they celebrated uhuru countrywide.
Of course the main source of the celebratory mood were accounts of tangible development projects being carried out all over the country. And it is during occasions like these that people tend to compare their projects against others — it could be roads, clinics, bridges, dip tanks or climate proof agricultural achievements, you name it. Because no-one and no place is being left behind, the celebratory mood was infectious, encompassing the whole country.
Generally, it is an incentive for people to unite when they realise the benefits they are collectively reaping. This usually encourages them to strive for bigger things as they compare with other areas. Thus, if development inspired by devolution can help districts engage in competition, then this is healthy. Unity for a common cause, in this case development, is always encouraged. Even during the liberation struggle, it was unity for a common cause that saw us win the war. With this in mind, people thronged celebration centres last week. But we must remember that even during the liberation war, it was not always smooth sailing. There were always some malcontents eager to throw spanners into the war machinery.
The colonial regime was notorious for infiltrating the armed struggle and influencing some people to sell out. We are well aware of how this wretched traitor called Morrison Nyathi facilitated the Nyadzonia Refugee Camp massacre. We still have characters who easily bend to the whims of our former colonisers even today as we celebrate our independence as a united country.
Elsewhere in this publication there is an account of how CSOs, NGOs and the West rig the minds of Africans — it is called ‘soft power’. We are used to the belief that identities can only be recognised by legal documents, like IDs or passports. But this was not so with the people who converged at the various centres to celebrate our 43rd independence anniversary. Here, identity was recognised through a common cause – happiness through association with development. Like days of old, the phrase ‘mwana wevhu’ identified people with a common cause after their land had been robbed by white settlers.
This time, the theme of this year’s independence celebrations: ‘Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo/ Ilizwe Lahhiwa Ngabanikazi Balo,’ drove through attendees a unifying spirit of responsibility. For all those at the different gatherings countrywide had, in one way or another, benefitted from projects brought about through devolution. However, there are some people who have lost their identity with the rest of other indigenes.
These are blacks whose minds have been rigged by Western imperialism and stopped thinking like Africans. They are willing victims of alienation. We don’t have to go far to identify them. Let’s look at this Western-sponsored outfit which calls itself ‘Team Pachedu’. Just imagine, this bosom ally of Triple C had planned ant-Zimbabwe demonstrations at embassies throughout the world as we celebrated our independence on Tuesday. The plot by this hopeless group of indigenes predictably flopped.
And their twin in their struggle, CCC, does not accept that we are an independent sovereign State 43 years after we gained our independence.
Perhaps, without approval of their Western handlers, they will never recognise their own independence. Do we need any more examples of blacks whose minds have been rigged by the West! However, these wayward outfits have failed to dent the unity of the people as results of the imminent national harmonised elections are expected to show.
Meanwhile, development-orientated Zimbabweans will continue to pack celebration venues come April 18 every year.
