Opinion / Columnist
Scrap December 22 public holiday
15 Dec 2023 at 07:27hrs | Views
ANY nation has its own historical landmarks, political or otherwise, that are peculiar to its survival and embedded in its heritage.
Such landmarks are revered in certain ways, in the form of public holidays or otherwise.
Such national occasions are embraced by the populace because of their legitimacy, the linkage to societal values and their heritage.
Battles of Gadade which marked the end of an all-powerful last African Ndebele Kingdom on November 3, 1893, the Shangani Patrol, the Uprising of March 23, 1896, are illustrative examples.
Unfortunately, the majority of these historical landmarks are trivialised to the extent of being relegated to the footnotes of history or made totally irrelevant to the nation's values and heritage.
The Matabele-Mashona rebellions led by Generals Dliso Mathema, Mkhithika ka Thebe, Magegwe ka Fuyane Madlenya kaMasuku on Matabele side, and Chief Mashayamombe, Kaguvi Gumboreshumba, Mkwati and Nehanda on the Mashona side, inspired the people to wage a struggle against the successive settler regimes to reclaim what was lost at the Battle of Gadade and in the uprisings, uprisings that were never influenced by political parties, uprisings that were born out of the voluntary unity of the people of Zimbabwe.
The unity that transcended ethnic considerations without any coercive influences, only to be ruptured by Zanu at its formation as a tribal project in August 1963.
It is noteworthy that the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress in 1957, the National Democratic Party of 1959 and Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) 1961, all led by Joshua Nkomo were formed to complete the unfinished struggle of 1896.
Due to their unwavering and uncompromising confrontational mode against the settler regimes, they were proscribed in succession.
The unity of the people forged in the 1896 uprisings was consolidated by these movements, hence the adoption of the slogan Mtwana wenhlabathi/Mwana wevhu (Child of the soil).
Unfortunately, Zanu demolished all those achievements, paving way for Mgagao Massacres, Gukurahundi Genocide and the existing societal polarisation.
From the above narrative, the December 22 public holiday should be expunged from the national calendar.
It is a holiday which was born out of the grieving peoples of Matebeleland and Midlands whose wounds remain unhealed to date.
Instead, March 23 that marked the beginning of the national uprising of 1896 and unity of Zimbabweans should be remembered and recognised as the National Unity Day and declared a public holiday.
Back to basics.
Vivian Sizina is Zapu's provincial secretary. She writes here in her own capacity.
Such landmarks are revered in certain ways, in the form of public holidays or otherwise.
Such national occasions are embraced by the populace because of their legitimacy, the linkage to societal values and their heritage.
Battles of Gadade which marked the end of an all-powerful last African Ndebele Kingdom on November 3, 1893, the Shangani Patrol, the Uprising of March 23, 1896, are illustrative examples.
Unfortunately, the majority of these historical landmarks are trivialised to the extent of being relegated to the footnotes of history or made totally irrelevant to the nation's values and heritage.
The Matabele-Mashona rebellions led by Generals Dliso Mathema, Mkhithika ka Thebe, Magegwe ka Fuyane Madlenya kaMasuku on Matabele side, and Chief Mashayamombe, Kaguvi Gumboreshumba, Mkwati and Nehanda on the Mashona side, inspired the people to wage a struggle against the successive settler regimes to reclaim what was lost at the Battle of Gadade and in the uprisings, uprisings that were never influenced by political parties, uprisings that were born out of the voluntary unity of the people of Zimbabwe.
The unity that transcended ethnic considerations without any coercive influences, only to be ruptured by Zanu at its formation as a tribal project in August 1963.
It is noteworthy that the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress in 1957, the National Democratic Party of 1959 and Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) 1961, all led by Joshua Nkomo were formed to complete the unfinished struggle of 1896.
Due to their unwavering and uncompromising confrontational mode against the settler regimes, they were proscribed in succession.
The unity of the people forged in the 1896 uprisings was consolidated by these movements, hence the adoption of the slogan Mtwana wenhlabathi/Mwana wevhu (Child of the soil).
Unfortunately, Zanu demolished all those achievements, paving way for Mgagao Massacres, Gukurahundi Genocide and the existing societal polarisation.
From the above narrative, the December 22 public holiday should be expunged from the national calendar.
It is a holiday which was born out of the grieving peoples of Matebeleland and Midlands whose wounds remain unhealed to date.
Instead, March 23 that marked the beginning of the national uprising of 1896 and unity of Zimbabweans should be remembered and recognised as the National Unity Day and declared a public holiday.
Back to basics.
Vivian Sizina is Zapu's provincial secretary. She writes here in her own capacity.
Source - newsday
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