THEY came in droves from across the country, danced to Alick Macheso’s sungura beat, watched Dynamos and Highlanders battle it out in the Uhuru Cup and duly returned to their homes, satisfied that their beloved motherland is in safe hands.
This is the enduring story of Murambinda, Buhera, on April 18 2024.
A story that not only brought an entire nation to a virtual standstill but invoked the horrors of its painful journey towards independence.
In April 2014, the late Alexander Kanengoni told us about the many things that were left in the dust and din of the liberation struggle.
He spoke about the spiritual dimension.
That, too, is a critical aspect of our history that we should never abandon or forget.
Sadly, while that aspect has been seemingly forgotten, it remains critical to our well-being as a country.
In Manicaland Province, which gave us our legendary heroes in the mould of Herbert Wiltshere Chitepo, the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, Kumbirai Kangai, William Ndangana, etc, is a seemingly ‘dead’ world.
With so many heroes hailing from the province, it is a source of inspiration in the continuing struggle against neo-colonialism.
Zimbabwe’s 44th Independence Anniversary celebrations could not have been held in a more appropriate area.
An economic warfare is being waged against us by the same enemy we defeated during the liberation struggle.
But, like everywhere in the country, there are lifelong scars deeply embedded in the psyche of Zimbabweans notwithstanding their jovial faces.
The story of their struggle for freedom has never escaped their minds.
This is a story that should, and will, be told in full no matter the odds.
Ours has been a tragic story of horror, betrayal, dishonesty and outright disrespect of the efforts of our freedom fighters.
‘Dzorerai simba mundima . . .,’ sang the late great Simon ‘Chopper’ Chimbetu.
That there are some in our midst who want us to forget that heroism is one of the many tragedies of our time.
That there are, in fact, some among us who are deviating from the cause is yet another tragedy we are having to deal with.
That there are others in the country who are being funded to derail the freedom train is again one of the many tragedies confronting us.
Yet the real and true Zimbabwean story can never be diluted by those antics.
The Zimbabwean story is being told and it will continue to be told in full until our history becomes the history that we deserve.
This is the story that the thousands who thronged Murambinda B High School were engraving on the innumerable blank pages of our history book.
The event in Murambinda was not about celebrating a one-day event.
It was about reincarnating memories of our past for posterity.
This is why the Second Republic has decentralised these celebrations.
This, too, is why the liberation struggle’s objectives of inclusivity have been revived.
And for the sake of clarity, that inclusivity has been visible since November 2017.
And it continues to pervade all parts of the country with aplomb.
In Murambinda, the more than 70 000-strong crowd that thronged the venue of this year’s celebrations was reminded of the horrors of the past, the challenges of the present and the gleaming prospects of the future.
This was not empty rhetoric.
Strenuous efforts to keep at bay the enemy and develop the country have been visible since the inception of the Second Republic.
They continue to pervade the whole country.
And Zimbabwe is rising and will continue to rise and shine.
Hence the Murambinda celebrations!
These were celebrations about our struggle to reclaim our country, a struggle to own and control our land, our abundant natural resources and the means of production as well as to create a platform for future generations to benefit from the same.
That has done little to cull our erstwhile colonisers’ efforts to regain control of the country.
Having failed to achieve their goal during the liberation struggle and over the past two decades, and pretending to have removed their heinous sanctions, now they are targeting our currency.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa had a message for them.
Zimbabwe, he said, will draw from its heroic past to defeat attempts to weaken the country’s currency and further condemn the masses to suffering.
The country has, since the turn of the millennium, been battling concerted efforts by the West to sabotage its economy through their illegal sanctions.
Those sanctions, imposed on Zimbabwe by the US on December 21 2001 and the EU on February 18 2002 respectively, have been used by Western countries to reverse the gains of the struggle.
The West uses the politically naïve opposition to achieve what they call regime change outside the ballot box.
More challenges will emanate from the country’s recent discovery of oil in Muzarabani, Mashonaland Central, one of the hotbeds of the liberation struggle.
“Government is alive to the adverse impact suffered by our people as a result of currency volatility and inflation. (Last week), my administration launched a new structured gold-backed currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG). Nyika yedu irikuenderera mberi. Ilizwe lethu liya phambili,” said President Mnangagwa in Murambinda.
“Our ZiG currency is anchored by our God-given resources and other strategic mineral resources, as well as foreign currency reserves. This development will boost our confidence and pride in our own national currency and further help our currency from attack by the country’s detractors.”
He further highlighted the possible areas that are likely to be prone to the West’s relentless onslaught.
This, he said, will see the country developing.
“In the wake of recent discoveries, Zimbabwe is on course to be a player in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry,” he said.
As Zimbabweans left Murambinda and continued with the celebrations, there could be no escaping that the country’s economic trajectory is on point.
Let those with ears listen.