By Shadreck Gurenje
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged the nation to remain vigilant and united in safeguarding and promoting the Second Republic’s national interests.
Addressing mourners at the burial of the late National Hero General (RTD) Cde Makhethi Ndebele, ZANU PF First Secretary and President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa said strategies by some powers designed to sow discord and division between fraternal states across the Region and in the Continent will never succeed.
President Mnangagwa also reiterated that programmes and projects which help lift many people out of poverty into prosperity will continue to be implemented and accelerated.
“In their honour, let us remain vigilant and united across every sector of the society towards safeguarding, preserving and promoting our national interests. Presently, there are concerted efforts to reverse the gains of our protracted liberation struggle. These attacks take many forms, including peddling falsehoods about our country.
“It is a shame that there is a deliberate and foreign funded campaign which is void of the evident and unprecedented success milestones we are witnessing across every facet of society and the economy. We shall never be deterred or discouraged. We are marching forward ever, backwards never. Programmes and projects which help lift many of our people out of poverty into prosperity will continue to be implemented and accelerated.
“ I invite all the citizens of our great country, at home and abroad, to join hands as we build the country brick by brick, stone upon stone, forever emboldened by our development philosophy 8 Nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatigwa nevene vayo/ilizwe lakhiwa, libuswe, likhulekelwe ngabanikazi balo. The strategies by some powers designed to sow discord and division between fraternal states in our Region and in our Continent will never succeed. We defeated imperialistic agendas to achieve our liberation and Independence.
“ We shall defeat them in the present, again and again. Their interests are never designed for Africa and its people, but to control our strategic resource endowments, including our God given minerals, which we have in abundance. Wherever their nefarious machinations show their ugly face, these shall be resisted, both in honour of our heroes and for the economic prosperity, peace and stability for present as well as future generations,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa also call upon the young people across the nation to draw lessons of selfless sacrifice and bravery exhibited by the late National Hero Cde Makhethi Ndebele.
“I call upon all Zimbabweans, especially the youth, to draw upon the good traits of selfless sacrifice, patriotism, bravery, courage and commitment that were exhibited by the late National Hero Cde Makhethi Ndebele. Let this emotive gathering here at this sacred national shrine once again reconnect us to our rich liberation heritage and remind us of the obligation we have to consolidate the gains of independence, freedom and the right to self-determination. We are one unitary state, from Plumtree to Mutare; from Beitbridge to Chirundu.
“Finally, as we lay to rest our national hero, the late Cde Makhethi Ndebele alongside his colleagues at this National Shrine, for remembrance and eternal reverence; I say to our liberation military supremo and instructor Cde Ndebele,”said President Mnangagwa.
The late Cde Mpofu is revered for being one of the pioneer combatants who was among the first 200 cadres to join the war of liberation in 1967. This was after ZAPU and ZANU successfully lobbied the Organisation of African Unity to train cadres during the executing of the war of liberation.