Staff Reporter
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces has been commended by His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe, ZANU PF First Secretary and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forced Cde E. D Mnangagwa for their corporate social responsibility as they contribute towards the socio-economic development of the nation.
Today the nation celebrated the Defence Forces for their sterling work and the Military assistance to civil communities. The Defence Forces has an obligation to defend Zimbabwe’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and vital national interests from which they derive their different roles. More so, the Defence Forces always support Government Ministries and Quasi-Gvt institutions to maintain essential services in times of disaster, industrial action or any support communities may request from military
“Today we enjoy our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity due to the gallantry, reputable, professional, effective and national character of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Our nation enjoys peace, for this, we are blessed and indeed grateful.
“I commend the ZDF for its corporate social responsibility through continued utilisation of its abundant wide array of skilled personnel to contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country. This has seen various communities benefitting from the construction of bridges, schools and clinics with some of the most recent projects being the construction of a maternity ward at Mberengwa District Hospital, Neramwe Clinic in Chiredzi and 2 classroom blocks at Charleswood Primary School in Chimanimani District just to mention a few,” President Mnangagwa said.
President Mnangagwa went on commend the ZDF for applying the devolution concept in ensuring that community assistance is aligned to provincial priorities and for the clearing landmines.
“To enhance the impact of the Community Assistance Program, the ZDF is applying the devolution concept to ensure that community assistance is aligned to provincial priorities. As we march towards our goal of achieving a Zimbabwe free of landmines by 2025, I commend the ZDF and its cooperation demining partners for the clearing of anti-personnel landmines. The demining activities surpassed their 2020 target where they recovered and destroyed over 35000 anti-personnel mines and 3 anti-tank mines. This is commendable progress,” said President Mnangagwa.
The ZDF has a long history of contributing to international peace and security dating back to 1991 when the United Nations extended its maiden request to Zimbabwe to contribute troops to the peacekeeping mission in Angola. President Mnangagwa therefore commended them for always raising the country’s flag high in all international peace and stability contributions.
“On the international scene, the ZDF has continued to contribute to international peace and stability by deploying its members on peace support operations under the auspices of the African Union and United Nations. In this regard, the ZDF has 31 officers deployed to UN missions and 6 officers deployed to AU missions in all these missions, the ZDF officers have raised the national flag high, through the professional discharge being renewed on several occasions,” His Excellency said.