Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
President Mnangagwa has challenged young people to embrace the spirit of sacrifice for national development and emulate brave sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives to free the country from brutal colonial rule In an interview with ZBC last night, the President said the youth must never forget that the freedom that the country now enjoys, was born out of the personal and collective sacrifices of freedom fighters who subordinated their own aspirations for the betterment of the lives of people now He was speaking ahead of the commemoration of Heroes Day and Defence Forces Day, today and tomorrow President Mnangagwa said today’s youth must emulate heroes of the 1960s and 1970s whose vision and sacrifice yielded the Independence and peace that the country enjoys today
“It is unfortunate that you, the younger generation know nothing except an independent Zimbabwe You have no idea except hearing stories from us about what Rhodesia was, how an African lived under Ian Smith and so on Because you were born after independence and all that you know is a free country But we who went to jail under Ian Smith know how brutal it was,” he said in this interview
“When we die, we are very happy that the country is free and the country now belongs to its own people If you mismanage it, it’s yourselves The older generation — ourselves have done our work We have done our work
We, so many of our generation died in prison through torture and so on for this freedom we now enjoy.”
The nation, he said, expected the youth to make sacrifices and to be goal-driven, focused and hard working “I would want to see our young people doing things not for personal benefit, sacrificing for their country Achieving things that benefit not the personal family or personal individual, but the country at large,” the President said “The generation that has gone by, sacrificed in many ways to achieve the independence, freedom we enjoy today
We have farms, our children go to school, some of the schools are Government run and so on We must be very grateful But for us to have achieved this, many, many of our parents suffered to achieve this They went to prison for us to enjoy the independence, the freedom we’re enjoying today
“If you go to Harare Prison today, there’s a lawn See that lawn I see people sitting there, on that lawn, sharing jokes and laughing But under that lawn, there are graves, because people used to be hanged there
After our fellow comrades were hanged, we would be asked to dig graves there, and after burying them, we would be asked to plant lawn over the graves I have to tell this to the younger generation to know how cruel the Smith regime or white oppression was on Africans They were cruel.”
President Mnangagwa urged the youth to desist from individualism and emulate the comradeship that was shown by freedom fighters during the struggle to liberate the country “I think those people today who are nationalists who are now (in their) 80s and above
I don’t think we had this spirit of (unbridled) property acquisition We shared everything “Even our clothes we used to share But I don’t think you people can do it
(Mava mazvake zvake ) But during our time we shared “What we called a comradeship was really comradeship Everything that we did, we shared from clothing, food, whatever we got we shared,” he said The President also narrated his personal experiences during the armed struggle and how he suffered under the hands of the brutal Smith regime
He touched on his incarceration at a young age and ill treatment of blacks then He spoke about one incident where he was hung head down and became unconscious, only to be resuscitated by some women who poured water over him Share on Facebook
Post on X
Follow us
Save
Originally published on Business Weekly
All Zim News
All Zim News is a central hub for all things Zimbabwean, curating news from across the country so no story is missed Alongside aggregation, our team of nationwide reporters provides real-time, on-the-ground coverage
Stay informed and connected — reach us at admin@allzimnews.com.
Source: Businessweekly
