Combined Easter & Independence Day Celebration Message from the Chair's Office (Zapu)

Dear Zimbabweans,

This is to wish you a restful Easter Holiday as most of you will be celebrating the ordeal of Jesus Christ right through to his resurrection as well as the significance of this occasion to mankind. This year, Good Friday coincides with Zimbabwe's Independence Day, i.e. 18th April.

This is the day that Zimbabwe officially gained its independence in 1980 and as such, it is a day that all Zimbabweans are expected to observe. As Europe Province of ZAPU, we do recognize that the independence of Zimbabwe came about through the sacrifice of gallant sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who took up arms to fight against an entrenched discriminatory and unjust system led by a racist supremacist Rhodesian regime. This, of course, was with the material, moral and indeed physical support of the majority of the ordinary person in Zimbabwe. We salute them all.

However, we cannot help but note that the ideals that we fought for are yet to be realized, 34 years on. The ills that we fought against are still entrenched both in government and in society in general in Zimbabwe. This is with the addition of even more ills like genocide, state sponsored murders, corruption, cronyism, institutionalised tribalism, the plundering of resources etc, the net effect of which has seen our country turn into a basket case, leading to millions of Zimbabweans scattering all over the world. A whole generation has been traumatized in the process. It is like we are in a nightmare that we all hope to wake up from one day.

Nevertheless, we are determined to soldier on until true independence and freedom is realized. With our flagship policy of devolution of power to regions coupled with our ideology of human rightsism, we have no doubt that we will lead our countrymen to true independence and freedom. It is a matter of time. After all, evil has never triumphed over right.

We sincerely wish we could articulate our Independence day message in a more positive way than this, but, try as we may, the reality on the ground in our country states otherwise.

By The Chair's Office
ZAPU – Europe Province