Independence Day celebrations, a multiplier of opportunities
WHEN the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, pronounced the need to rotate the national Independence Day celebrations across the 10 provinces, it never occurred to many the revelation that he had.
This is the easiest and fastest way of bringing development to the people outside normal programming by Government. Independence fosters unity, peace and development, and in the current circumstances, we are chasing and working towards the crystallisation of Vision 2030.
With the Independence Day celebrations for the year 2024 set for Manicaland Province, and Buhera District in particular, the district has experienced development that has not been seen since Independence in 1980.
It has opened a whole host of opportunities. It has brought to the fore the huge opportunities offered by the district across sectors, and has, not only put Buhera District on the national atlas, but the international one as well.
Basic Infrastructure development
With the unity and peace ushered in by the independence of our great country, development towards Vision 2030 through National Development Strategy (NDS1) under the able leadership of President Mnangagwa, is inevitable. There has been massive face-lifting of roads, schools, clinics, water and sanitation infrastructure as well as tourism attractions in the last 30 days.
Buhera will never be the same again, thanks to the Independence Day celebrations. As for Murambinda Town Centre, the highlight is the construction of a stadium which will be unveiled through a clash between Dynamos and Highlanders football clubs in the Uhuru Cup on April 18, 2024 at the Uhera Stadium.
The implications
National Independence Day celebrations wherever they are held, are a development multiplier in many respects. First and foremost, they reorient and develop the mindset of the hosts. This is the best asset that this event bequeaths to the hosts and the nation at large.
Media outlets/vehicles, print, electronic, outdoor and social media platforms are inundated with stories, news, documentaries, etc, that speak to the struggle for independence in an attempt to reconnect and amplify the struggles and sacrifices that gave birth to an independent Zimbabwe.
When that message has been hammered home successfully, it becomes very easy to realign those that have been obtuse to the cause of our motherland. When it comes to matters of national interest, we don’t have a choice, we must converge for the greater good, and take advantage, as a collective, of the massive opportunities presented by the national Independence Day celebrations. When we take the celebrations to other districts in a rotational basis in the spirit of devolution, we must leave the host district visibly transformed, and this is what is obtaining in Buhera District across different social, economic and ecological categories.
SDGs agenda and discourse in the context of our independence:
It is important to locate and intersect Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national Independence Day celebrations in light of the three broad SDG categories of economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection (the sustainability triangle). Which areas of the sustainability triangle are impacted with respect to the coming to Buhera District (or any other district) of the national Independence Day celebrations? The local economy of Buhera District is the primary beneficiary in many ways.
Independence ushers in unity and peace that facilitate partnerships (SDG17) in working towards set targets as captured in Vision 2030 via working with the State, corporate world, non-State actors and individuals to achieve the other 16 SDGs.
SDG1 and SDG2
Ending poverty in all its forms and achieving zero hunger are some of the key sustainable development goals that are intertwined primarily with agriculture and the natural environment. Achieving zero hunger and ending poverty in all its manifestations is made possible where people live in peace and harmony, where there is unity of purpose. This creates an enabling environment for people to organise themselves, work their land to feed themselves and sell surplus produce as well as research and develop.
Ending hunger, achieving food security, improved nutrition, food availability, accessibility and affordability are key and critical aspects of the food system. A food insecure nation is a vulnerable one because those living in extreme poverty cannot meet basic needs like education, water, health and sanitation, etc. It is actually a security threat and a security issue.
A State cannot claim both input and output legitimacy when its own people are living in extreme poverty. The Second Republic has been seized with getting the majority of people out of poverty through socio-economic initiatives that are hinged on empowering communities.
With the coming of the Independence Day celebrations to Buhera, Government has been very deliberate in responding to the vagaries of climate change. The rolling out of water bodies, community nutritional gardens, the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme feeds into SDG13 which speaks to climate action to mitigate and adapt to causes and impacts of global warming and the attendant primary and secondary effects of climate change.
Affordable and clean energy and, water and sanitation
This seeks to ensure availability and sustainable management of the same, affordable, reliable and sustainable sources of energy. The deployment of solar powered community boreholes speaks to green transition in an attempt to mitigate the impact of energy sources that are not environmentally friendly.
As water is being delivered to communities, under the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme targeting to have 35 000 boreholes across the length and breadth of the country, it is being powered by ecologically friendly energy. Targeting to do 10 000 solarised boreholes that at least cover one hectare under irrigation, as a country, we will put 10 000 hectares of arable land under irrigation. This will be a massive development occasioned by a united and peaceful environment born out of a free and independent society.
Access to quality Health
As for Buhera District, the greatest story after the Murambinda-Birchenough Bridge Road, is the debate around the construction of a district referral hospital at the historic site, Dzapasi National Monument.
In the short term, Dzapasi Clinic is being birthed after serious lobbying on account of three critical factors, that Buhera District does not have a district referral hospital, Dzapasi is the most central place in the district and that Dzapasi National Monument should be given the respect that it deserves given its role leading up to an independent Zimbabwe.
It admits of no debate that all this development is a result of conversations around our history and independence. Accessing health care is a right that can only be provided adequately in an environment of unity, peace and stability. We must always seek the opinion of history and organise ourselves backwards alive to the fact that our past shapes our future.
Access to quality education
Many schools were closed across the then Rhodesia at the peak of the war of liberation. Chiurwi Primary School which is now part of the Dzapasi National Monument was closed in 1977 at the peak of the liberation war.
Thanks to the independence, a secondary school was opened in 1984, and many learners have gone through that school. The Second Republic has been very deliberate in promoting education for all and investing in new schools.
When the environment is peaceful, it is possible to invest in education and for the intended beneficiaries to access the service. There is a proposal put forth to upgrade and rename Chiurwi Secondary School to a modern boarding school and rename it Dzapasi Secondary School. Such strategic and forward-focused conversations are possible because we are free and independent to make our own choices and chart a new path.
SDG10 - Reduced inequalities
Reduced inequalities as a product and function of National Independence is one of the key SDGs. Independence sought to give the people of Zimbabwe a voice towards self-deter
mination, and coming to Manicaland Province, and Buhera District in particular and the attendant programmes activated by Government and the ruling party, ZANU PF, are a stark reminder that the Second Republic is serious in its intentions to actualise Vision 2030 predicated on the mantra: leaving no-one and no place behind, and embracing everyone to participate in building their country.
Post-independence and more importantly in the Second Republic, the new quota system for women and youths in the House of Assembly and Local Government, is a deliberate and well thought-out programme to accelerate the upward mobility of vulnerable groups in our society.
SDG13 - Climate Action
This reminds us to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts at both primary and secondary levels with respect to mitigation and adaptation towards building resilient communities. As an independent State, we are part of the family of nations, and we participate on global issues.
Climate change and climate action are global programmes. Post the 1992 Rio Declaration and the Paris Agreement of 2015, and all subsequent Conference of Parties (COP), we participate because we are an independent nation. Government has introduced programmes that are meant to climate-proof citizens. The promotion of traditional grains is another main achievement. Private sector and institutions of higher learning have taken keen interest in research and development in that space.
Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) School of Agriculture is working with local farmers on traditional grains, with the ultimate target to setting up a processing plant for traditional grains at Dzapasi National Monument as we push for the industrialisation of our rural areas.
The 2024 World Wetland Day was commemorated and celebrated in Buhera at Mainzo Wetland in Ward 22. People are being encouraged to co-exist with the environment in a friendly manner. Just like what the Speaker of Parliament of Zimbabwe, Honourable Advocate Jacob Mudenda said at COP28 in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE): “Climate change must not conquer humanity, humanity must conquer climate change decisively”.
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
The five Chapter 12 Commissions in Zimbabwe are meant to foster peace and justice, and to reconcile communities towards sustainable development. The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) as one of the Chapter 12 commissions, visited the 250-hectare and Mainzo Wetland in Buhera Central Constituency, with the express intention to bring finality to the land dispute between the residents of VIDCO One and VIDCO Two in Ward 22 of Buhera District.
EMA has taken over the management of the wetland so that it is both professionally and sustainably managed, and offering food security to the two communities either side of Mainzo River. This is what true independence does, it provides space for conversations and equalises all areas of disputes and contestations. Because disputes are a constant factor in the existence of humankind, they remain a moving target, and therefore the Chapter 12 commissions as institutions, should have an infinity life.
Thank you Mr President: Words alone are not adequate. If we had words of our own invention, we were going to thank you in a manner befitting of the unparalled service that you have delivered to the people of Buhera. For bringing, most importantly, the Independence Day Flame to Dzapasi Assembly Point, you met and intersected with the cry in the wilderness of the people of Buhera who for far too long, given the role and contribution of Dzapasi Assembly Point, felt the place had been forgotten, even post its designation as a national monument in 2017. You are a doer par excellence, and history will always record that it was you Mr President who gave Dzapasi Assembly Point its deserved recognition.
Thanking you once again for the major pronouncement and announcement, as our visionary leader, that you will make about the great District of Buhera so that it is not left behind together with its great people in your developmental agenda. We are convicted to the fact that, Your Excellency, President Dr ED Mnangagwa, you see near and far, and on account of the foregoing, all the critical issues of Buhera District are in your palm. Out of many, you chose one, and that was Buhera District. Quite telling and instructive, the choice. Favour! We stand ready, as a district, to be counted because development has been thrusted upon us. Thank you Mr President! Ichoo!!
Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo.