Youthful sacrifices – Enduring

 Dr Obert Moses Mpofu

Zimbabwe will not die, young people will save it”. I cannot think of a more powerful statement than these words by Father Zimbabwe, our late former Vice President, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo. Indeed, the task is always for the youth to save this motherland and defend the gains of the liberation struggle, which some of us fought for in our youth. His Excellency, President Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa, myself and other comrades realised that we could no longer accept the status quo that existed at the time and thus at an early age we made the decision to fight for our freedom.

We sacrificed our youthfulness and youthful cravings to rescue the country from the jaws of colonialism, an act we do not regret to this day. As a matter of fact, we in leadership have spent our entire lives in sacrifice and service to the cause. Zimbabwe was fought for and liberated by the youth. The entire life or earlier life of us who are in leadership today was a time of sacrifice as youths. This country was mostly fought for by the young people, the youths who are old people today. It was because of their discipline and their resolve to liberate the country that made them sacrifice for the emancipation of this country. President Mnangagwa was incarcerated when he was a young man. He went to prison and was incarcerated because he had made the bold decision to fight for the independence of his motherland at an early age. It is amazing that at that young age, he had realised that his life would be meaningless if he did not fight for the motherland. And thus, our youthfulness was spent serving a noble cause.

 Indeed, each generation is often confronted by its own struggles. Ours was to free our motherland and take back our land. The youth of today face the same conundrum and must defend the gains of the liberation struggle against the relentless attacks from our detractors. Youthfulness is indeed the greatest resource and the ultimate weapon against those who seek to keep us under subjugation. Our youth must be torch bearers and carry forth the light until we are fully emancipated.

 Dear youth born in a free Zimbabwe, yours is a simple task, one of defending your motherland against our detractors. Discipline, patriotism and loyalty are the tenets we espoused during our time and these are the tools that our dear youth should rely on in defence of our motherland. The comrades often talked about, those who died in Mozambique, Zambia, and here in Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle were not old people but were the youth. This country was indeed liberated by the youth and its foundation was built by the sweat and blood of these youth.

 In order to attain a future we can all be proud of, the Second Republic, under the apt leadership of President Mnangagwa, proclaimed February 21 the Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day. The purpose of the National Youth Day, formerly known as the 21st February Movement is to instill the right ideology into the youth.

To celebrate this important day, more than 30 000 young people from across the country converged at Mushagashe Vocational Training Centre in Masvingo last Wednesday for the main National Youth Day celebrations. This year’s celebrations ran under the theme: “Positioning youth empowerment and development towards achieving Vision 2030”. To demonstrate the importance of this day, this year’s celebrations were graced by President Mnangagwa who was the guest of honour. President Mnangagwa has a firm belief in the country’s youth and their drive as well as leadership capabilities. He has thus initiated deliberate policies that seek to ensure that the youth excel in all sectors of the economy.

 The National Youth Day serves as a stark reminder of what a patriotic youth should do to play a part in the development of their country. This is more so now that the independence that we have and the deliberate policies that have been introduced by the successive Zanu-PF governments since 1980 have allowed them to acquire the necessary skills for spurring our country forward. We have one of the best education systems on the continent and our people are among the most educated on the continent.

 Indeed, the youth of yesterday made the ultimate sacrifice so that the youth of today can prosper and flourish. Our youths of today are quite fortunate to be living at a time when most of the work has been done by the youths of yesterday. The schools, the universities and the colleges have afforded them the opportunity to acquire skills which they are to use or utilise responsibly. Evidently, had it not been for the other youths of yesterday, they wouldn’t have had these opportunities they are enjoying today.

Young people indeed have a critical role to play in economic development and they are an important resource that should be tapped into. Our youths will determine where our nation goes in the future and it is up to us to mould the kind of leaders we need for our tomorrow.

Dr. Obert Moses Mpofu is an Academic and the Secretary General of Zanu-PF. He writes in his own capacity.