ALTHOUGH we celebrated our 44th Heroes’ Day on Monday, we are duty-bound to continuously respect the heroic sacrifices of our gallant sons and daughters for us to win the freedom, independence and sovereignty we are enjoying today.

By liberating us from the oppressive, exploitative and racist settler-colonial regime, our heroes and heroines ushered in a democratic State we shall always cherish.

The commemorations should, therefore, not be seen as a one-off event, but rather as a perpetual reminder of our indebtedness to our heroes and heroines — both dead and living.

But the greatest challenge is that we have to protect our democracy and sovereignty brought about by our heroes and heroines, some of whom paid the supreme sacrifice.

The legacy of unity and bravery bequeathed to us by our heroes and heroines should be key in our surviving destructive machinations by powerful forces which have never liked a government led by a former liberation movement.

Ian Douglas Smith et al, backed by his white cousins from the West, who provided him with mercenaries, was prepared to resist majority rule for another 1 000 years.

Instead, the Second Chimurenga lasted 14 years when Smith, in person, surrendered at Lancaster House.

This surrender to supposedly nationalist  ‘terrorists’ meant loss of grip on the vast natural resources controlled by the British.

This was unacceptable.

As soon as we got our independence, our erstwhile colonisers devised what they thought would be a subtle way to dislodge ZANU PF. 

This was especially after the revolutionary Party had, without any delay, demonstrated that it was not merely interested in political power, but economic power as well.

The MDC, disguised as a genuine nationalist movement, was formed by Western imperialists in London.

Zimbabweans still hurting from the liberation struggle saw through the ploy and rejected the Western proxy.

Even with the aid of Western illegal sanctions, the Zimbabwean electorate would never betray the legacy inherited from its heroes and heroines.

Zimbabweans knew the MDC and its various splinter groups were only a surrogate of Western colonialists bent on milking our vast natural resources.

But when the heroes and heroines of ZANU PF fought the liberation struggle, they did not do it in isolation.

Neighbouring countries, under the banner of the Frontline States, were eager to assist.

One of the African Union’s major objectives was to assist liberation movements when it was formed.

It is this unity against colonialism, for which our heroes and heroines were prepared to shed their precious blood, which infuriated the West. 

That is why we see some rich Western organisations funding dissident organisations to work against unity among African States.

We don’t have to go far.

Now for SADC, which was born out of the Frontline States, a region gifted with mineral resources coveted by the West, to have a Chairman from Zimbabwe, even if only for a year, is anathema to the West.

That is why some rich elements from the West have poured money to their willing stooges in Zimbabwe to help them stage protests, which are likely to be violent, to discredit the incoming SADC Chair.

After all, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is one of the surviving leaders of the heroes and heroines who helped Zimbabwe stand up among other nations as an independent sovereign State today, deserves the honour of leading this prestigious regional body.

It, therefore, boggles the mind to see some Zimbabweans happy to be used by foreigners to protest against their own son from becoming SADC Chairman on their behalf.

There is no doubt these proposed protests, a continuation of the doomed regime change agenda, are destined to flop.

So, as we reflect on the achievements of our heroes and heroines, what should give us satisfaction is our resounding success in defending what our gallant sons and daughters shed their precious blood for.