ZAPU's independence day message

As Zimbabweans remember the end of colonialism and the advent of independent rule on 18 April 1980, it is saddening to note that what every citizen celebrated as a new chapter has in actual fact been an incubation of a failed state and a poverty stricken society. All hope for a prosperous society under majority government have turned into a nightmare with corruption, tribalism, looting and violations of human rights becoming authors of continued and constant episodes of agony and grief on the ordinary Zimbabwean.

The economy has become the most visible symptom of a system that was designed to loot the country's resources by the elite in government since 1980. Only a few have been benefiting from the economy with millions wallowing in abject poverty thanks to nepotistic cronyism, outright tribalism and patronage that has characterised our governance since the Zimbabwean flag was raised on this land. Today we have cries of marginalization from different sessions of our greater society, with Manicaland and Matebelelanad being the loudest owing to deep rooted tribalism in our systems as a country.

These societal deficiencies are as a result of failure by the Zimbabwean authorities post 1980 to invest energies in nation building. Today, instead of a nation celebrating independence, we are merely a country that is defined by nothing more than the Berlin Conference boarder lines. Even this day of triumph against colonialism has over the years failed to bring Zimbabweans together as the governing party has turned it into its party recruitment and propaganda platform.

This day has become nothing but a celebration of a cosmetic independence where only flags and national anthems were replaced without addressing fundamental elements of freedom and nation building. The day marks transfer of oppressive power from a white racist to a black tribalist where the country failed to create home grown societies based on our diverse cultures, values and norms.

Instead, divisions and hatred was sown among the people by the government of Zimbabwe with serious societal damage being done in the process. We saw a genocide being committed by them simply to eliminate a political opinion and ideology that was divergent to theirs. Tens of thousands lost lives, with Matobo and Tsholotsho districts accounting for 20 000 deaths. We also saw the government unleashing Murambatsvina on predominantly opposition strongholds. Thousands lost livelihoods. We saw many politically related deaths at every election turn as the government of independent Zimbabwe worked round the clock to eliminate dissent. All these atrocities and human rights violations have not been addressed and the government of independent Zimbabwe is not only complicity responsible but is determined to evade accountability.

This is evidence that as a country we have lost all aims and values of the liberation struggle that culminated in independence in 1980 and as such, celebrating this day has become vanity and an insult to those who paid the ultimate price for our independence.

Many today erroneously think 18 April 1980 was the destination in our quest for freedom. In actual fact, it marked the beginning of a journey in search of freedom, self determination and nationhood and these could only have been achieved by a people whose development was premised on respect of the constitutional , human rights and who are tolerant to diversity. This became a very difficult task for the pretenders who found themselves in power in 1980. Just like every fool with an erection who can make a woman conceive, these pretenders found themselves responsible for raising a baby that was expected to grow into a strong nation with robes of prosperity wrapped around it.

Instead, the pretenders are almost done squeezing life out of the baby Zimbabwe and this they have achieved through corruption, looting, thuggery, nepotism, tribalism, rights violations and outright disregard of the land's constitution and laws. Because nothing matters to these pretenders except political power, we witnessed a coup de tat in November 2017, a total disregard of the constitution and values and aims of the liberation struggle and its tenets. These have seen total collapse of the economy, social services delivery and that very societal fabric that should have brought us together into a nation. It indeed is a celebration of poverty that has come in capsules from those whose initial responsibility was to build the country and its economy.

ZAPU invites all Zimbabweans to a self introspection exercise today where we should all interrogate the meaning of independence without freedom and self determination. Let us all interrogate the meaning of an independent country that knows no nation. Let us all cone together and redefine our independence and direct all our efforts towards building a nation of equality, prosperity, freedom and self determination.  Let us reinvent our independence and make it celebrated and commemorated by all despite our diversity in appearance, talk or opinion. May all Zimbabweans take time to reflect and self correct. While at it, may we all be safe on the country's dilapidated roads, let's  drive to arrive alive and also be our brothers/sisters keepers in face of this biting economic melt down.

We wish we could say Happy independence Zimbabwe..!