The 39th Zimbabwean Independence Day

ZIMBABWEANS remember the anniversary of their country’s independence from foreign rule on the 18th of April yearly.

Zimbabwe was called Southern Rhodesia (in honor of Cecil Rhodes) in 1895 and was governed by the British South Africa Company until 1922, when

the European settlers voted to become a British colony.

In 1965, it issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia. However the UK officially recognized its full independence only on April 18, 1980, where Robert Mugabe took the head of state post after independence.

In February of 1980, elections were held where Robert Mugabe became the first head of the government after independence. This is followed by the country’s formal declaration of independence on April 18, 1980.

The Independence Day celebration is highlighted with ceremonial speeches and military parade along with the public air exhibition of fighter planes in the capital, Harare. Releasing white doves has become a tradition during the holiday symbolizing peace across the nation, as the people sing Zimbabwe’s national anthem “Blessed be the Land of Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa known for its dramatic landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves and safari areas. It is bordered by the Republic of South Africa in the south, by Botswana in the southwest and west, by Zambia on the north, and by Mozambique in the northeast and east.

We congratulate the people and government of Zimbabwe led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, on the occasion of its 39th Independence Day Anniversary.