Herbert, Victoria Chitepo Festival explodes
THE 2023 edition of the rebranded Herbert Chitepo Festival — now Hebert and Victoria Chitepo Festival — rolls into life tomorrow (Saturday) at Bonda Mission Grounds in Mutasa District, with exciting sporting and cultural displays set to keep attendees on the edge of their seats.
Prior to tomorrow’s sporting and cultural displays, organisers of the festival — the Herbert Chitepo Trust Local Organising Committee — will preside over the graduation of youths in different trades. The addition of the youth skills training programme to the usual sporting and cultural displays was done in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training and Mutasa Rural District Council.
The programme has seen over 500 youths being trained in trades which include motor vehicle servicing, catering, welding, garment making, agriculture and carpentry.
Herbert Chitepo Trust Local Organising Committee chairman, Caston Chitsidzo Samanga narrated the journey from the formation of the committee and the events that have been included to make the initiative bigger and better with each passing year.
“The Herbert Chitepo Trust has been there for a long time, and we are the Bonda Chapter which came up around 2013 as a community initiative to commemorate the legacy of Herbert Chitepo who was born and bred in Bonda area of Mutasa District.
“We convened a meeting at St David’s Bonda High School with the Anglican Church and community leaders to find out on how we could celebrate the life of the gallant son of Bonda and the nation at large.
“We first of all came up with a committee called Herbert Chitepo Trust Local Organising Committee of which I was asked to chair. We first looked at what Herbert Chitepo valued most and came up with among others the values of unity, freedom, empowerment, self-reliance and human dignity etc.
“We agreed to play community games to occupy the young generation and bring the community together on Unity Day. We engaged the late national heroine, Gogo Chitepo on our plans and she was ecstatic about the development. She engaged her family and they supported the idea. In 2013, we had our first ever Bonda community driven Herbert Chitepo Tournament on Unity Day,” said Samanga.
He said the committee expanded the initiative to accommodate youth skills training.
“Our participants were mainly ward-based, but we included Nyanga, Honde Valley and partly Rusape. Cultural activities were also done for an entire day.
“Our guests in the past editions were drawn from mostly Manicaland, especially the resident ministers. The event has been transformed to Herbert and Victoria Chitepo Festival in memory of both Herbert and Victoria.
“The programme has now expanded to youth skills training in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training and Mutasa Rural District Council, and we have trained over 500 youths in trades which include motor vehicle servicing, catering, welding, garment making, agriculture and carpentry,” he said.
Today (Friday), 61 youths are set to graduate at Bonda Mission after completing one year courses in the listed trades, an event that will culminate in the festival the next day.