By Tawanda Chenana
IN the village, the first thing we do, in the event of a good thing, big or small, is to ululate and clap.
Back in the village our minds are boggled when we see among us elements that cannot celebrate the good events, tinoti ava ndivo varoyi vasingade chakanaka.
Every act, committed for the greater good, with noble intentions, with a grand vision and desire to transform fortunes for better, every move and step taken towards good for the majority should be celebrated.
ZimSat-1 just launched into orbit is no child’s play.
It gives us capabilities that we have hitherto not had.
Our approach to issues and events has been sharpened.
Our sight has been magnified.
Where others crawled and walked we will leap, these are the capabilities we are being given by ZimSat-1.
Fellow villagers and citizens our leadership is building a country that will not only thrive but one that will be competitive in the family of nations.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is building a country that will be more adaptable and agile.
This is a satellite that was not built for us by foreigners, sons of the soil, mwana wekwaKuhamba, Timothy Kuhamba, mwana wekwaJeje , Kudakwashe Jeje, mwana wekwa Nyamukondiwa, Ramson Munyaradzi Nyamukondiwa, mwana wekwa Mukungunugwa, Victor Mukungunugwa were part of the creation of the satellite that will serve us.
President Mnangagwa and his able lieutenants are building a nation where people dare to try new things, where people feel assured in knowing that only the limits of their creativity and drive, their own standards of personal excellence, will be the ceiling on how far they can go.
Our President has put his mind, heart and gut in this journey.
He has opened his mind to ideas from everywhere and the country is the beneficiary.
Fellow villagers, the satellite is not a joke or some fancy project whose results have no bearing on our lives.
I will breakdown the capabilities given us by the satellite.
First and foremost it is a tool, a gadget, a device, a piece of technology, a machine, an instrument that will be used to gather vital information necessary to making sound decisions.
It will be used to gather information in many areas that include agriculture and health, rural and urban planning, monitor weather patterns as well as forecasting and monitoring our forests, mineral exploration.
It will help in monitoring environmental hazards and droughts, mapping human settlements infrastructure and border security.
Having ZimSat-1 in orbit has been described as having a dedicated satellite for Zimbabwean mapping meaning we are no longer at the mercy of others.
It means that the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) launched by President Mnangagwa in 2018 becomes the tip of our sharp spear.
President Mnangagwa is setting us a solid foundation, our development trajectory is not taking shortcuts, all the fundamentals of sustainable development are being put in place.
To succeed it is not enough just to know ourselves, we must know a whole lot of other things, we must know what to sidestep, what to engage directly, what is coming our way.
Success comes from knowledge, real time information and our satellite will give us that knowledge in tonnes.
The greatest gift given us thus far by President Mnangagwa is self-confidence, he has provided us with opportunities and challenges to do things we never imagined we could do.
Today we have many innovations coming out of our tertiary institutions.
Indeed nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ilizwe liyakhwa ngabanikazi.
We are firmly in control of our destiny, we are authoring our future.
Zimbabwe is our country and will be built by none other than us.