President Mugabe’s first Independence Speech

President Robert Mugabe’s speech, which he made on the eve of Zimbabwe’s independence on April 17 1980. “The final countdown before the launching of the new State of Zimbabwe has now begun. Only a few hours from now, Zimbabwe will have become free, independent and sovereign state, free to choose its own flight path and chart its own course to its chosen destiny. Its people have made a democratic choice of those who as their legitimate government, they wish to govern them and take policy decision as to their future.

“This, indeed, is the meaning of the mandate my party secured through a free and fair election, conducted in the full glare of the world’s spotlight. While my government welcomes the mandate it has been given and is determined to nor to the letter, it also accepts that the fulfillment of the tasks imposed by the mandate are only possible with the confidence, goodwill, and cooperation of all of you, reinforced by the forthcoming support and encouragement of all our friends, allies and well wishers in the international community.

“The march to our national independence has been long, arduous and hazardous. On this march, much countless lives have been lost and many sacrifices made. Death and suffering have been the price we have called upon to pay. For the final priceless reward of freedom and national independence. May I thank all of you who have had to suffer and sacrifice for the reward we are now getting. Tomorrow we shall be celebrating the historic even which our people have striven for nearly a century to achieve. Our people, young and old, men and women, black and white, living and dead, are on this occasion being brought together in a new form of national unity that makes them all Zimbabweans. Independence will bestow on us a new personality, a new sovereignty, a new future and perspective and indeed a new history and a new past. Tomorrow we are being born again, born again, not as individuals, but collectively as people, nay as a viable nation of Zimbabweans.

Tomorrow is thus our birthday, the birth of a great Zimbabwe and the birth of its nation. Tomorrow we shall cease to be men and women of the past and become men and women of the future. Its tomorrow then not yesterday, which bears our destiny. As we become a new people we are called to be constructive, progressive and forever forward looking, for we cannot afford to be men of yesterday, backward looking, retrogressive and destructive. Our new nation required of every one of us to be a new man with a new man, a new heart and a new spirit. Our new mind must have a new vision and a new hearts a new love that spurns hate and a new spirit that must unite and not divide.

This to me is a human that must form the core of our political change and national independence. Henceforth you and I must strive to adapt ourselves intellectually and spiritually to the reality of our political change and relate to each other as brothers bound to one another but a bond of national comradeship. If yesterday I fought as an enemy, today you have become a friend, an ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me and me to you. It is not folly therefore that in these circumstances anybody should seek to revive the wounds and grievances of the past. The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. If ever we looked to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us, namely that oppression and racism are iniquities that must never again find scope in our political and social system. It could never be a correct justification that because whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today because they have power. An evil remains an evil whether practiced by white against black or black against white. Our majority rule could easily turn into inhuman rule if we oppressed persecuted or harassed those who do not look or think like the majority of us. Democracy is never mob rule; it is and should remain disciplined rule requiring compliance with the law and social rules. Our independence must therefore not be construed as an instrument vesting individuals or groups with the right to harass and intimidate others into acting against their will. It is not the right to negate the freedom of others to think and act as they desire.

I therefore wish to appeal to all of you to respect each other and act in promotion of national unity rather than negation of that unity. On Independence Day our integrated security forces will in spite of their having only recently fought each other be marching in step together to herald the new era of national unity and togetherness.

Let this be an example to all of us to follow. Indeed, let this enjoin the whole of our nation to march in perfect
unison from year to year and decade to decade towards its destiny. We have abundant mineral agriculture and human resources to exploit and develop for which we need perfect peace. Given such peace, our endeavor is to transform our society and raise our standard of living are bound to succeed. The mineral resources lying beneath the surface of our country have hardly been scratched nor have our agricultural and industrial resources yet fully harnessed. N0ow we have peace, we must go fully out to exploit them. We already have a sophisticated infrastructure. Our expertise is bound to increase as more and more educational and technical institutions are established to transform our skilled manpower. The whole world is looking on us this day.

Indeed many countries in the international community are amazed at how we have so quickly unexpectedly moved from war to peace. We have certainly won the goodwill of many countries and can confidently expect to benefit from the economic and technical aid they are able and willing to provide for us. May I assure you that my government is determined to bring about meaningful change to the lives of the majority of the people in the country. But I must ask you to be patient and allow my government time to organize programmes that will effectively yield that change. There are people without land who need land, people without jobs who need jobs, children without schools who need schools and patients without hospitals who need them. We are also fully aware for the need of increased wages in all sectors of employment. My government will certainly do its best to meet these existing needs in these areas, but you have to assist us by being patient and peaceful.’

I now finally wish to appeal to you wherever you are, to participate fully today and Saturday in the Independence
celebrations that have been organized throughout the country. There are of course those of you who have the duty to maintain essential services, these services must be indeed maintained so that the celebrations are facilitated. Maintaining such essential services during the celebrations is a significant contribution to their success.
I wish to thank Her Majesty the Queen for having sent His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales to represent her and officiate our independence ceremony where he will perform the symbolic act of severing our colonial ties with Britain, As you are aware, the historic ceremony will be witnessed by heads of state and government representatives of nearly 100 nations plus representatives of several international, political and voluntary organization. The ceremony will also be reported and re-laid to millions of people in the world by the mass media. May I endure you all to regard you all to regard this solemn occasion with honour and dignity and participate in the celebrations that follow it with jubilation. Let us rejoice over our independence and recognize in it the need to dedicate ourselves to national unity, peace and progress. I now wish to pay tribute to Lord Soames, our governor for the most important role he has played in successfully guiding the country to elections and independence. He was from the very onset given the most difficult and unenviable task and yet he performed it with remarkable ability and overwhelming dignity. I must admit that I was one of those who originally never trusted him and yet I have now ended up not only explicitly trusting, but fondly loving him as well. He is indeed a great man through whom it has been possible within a short period I have been Prime Minister to organize substantial financial and technical aid from Britain and other countries. I am personally indebted to him for the advice he has constantly given me on the art of managing the affairs of the government.

I shall certainly be missing a good friend and counselor and so will our independent Zimbabwe and all its people. I also wish to thank all our distinguished guests for the honour they have given us by coming to attend our independence celebrations on behalf of their countries and organisations. Their presence in our country signifies a bond of solidarity and friendship between their countries or organisation and our country. Without the support they have given us towards our liberation this day would never have come about.
Thank you therefore for all the material, political, diplomatic, and moral support they have given us. Sons and daughters of Zimbabawe I urge you to participate fully and jubilantly in our independence celebration and to ensure that all our visitors are well entertained and treated with the utmost hospitality. I shall be one in spirit and love and loyalty and commitment with you all.

Forward with the year of the peoples power.
Long Live our Freedom, Long Live our Sovereignty,
Long Live our Independence,
Forward with the year of the peoples power!

Tafadzwa Charles Nyakudya- Winner of the Keep flying scholarship

M
id afternoon of December the 17th 2003, I got ready to move. The most exciting thing about the day was that I would for the very first time in my life, climb into an aircraft and fly to the start of my new life with my family. Little did I know that this day would change my life forever. As I walked up to the aircraft it simply took me a while to comprehend what I was seeing up close. We boarded the aircraft and took our seats while I looked at everything with renewed light.
The flight was slightly bumpy in the hot Botswana summer and my nerves crept up as the aircraft jumped around in the air. The air hostess came walking down the aisle to make sure everyone was comfortable and alright. I took this opportunity to ask if I could be allowed to see inside the cockpit. She politely informed me that I could not due to safety reasons but she would ask the captain for permission once the aircraft landed. To my delight the Captain agreed to this.

Once the aircraft kissed the ground, my spirit soared with the overwhelming sensation of what was all happening and what was about to happen. The aircraft stopped and I could not wait to get out of my seat and meet the Captain. Walking down toward the cockpit I felt as if I was in a movie and all the lights from the instruments lit up this tiny room where the whole aircraft was controlled. I thought about what to ask and say to the captain eliminating all the stupid questions that came on my mind. As I entered the room, the first thing that came out of my mouth was “Wooooow!” As we conversed, all the information he gave me seemed to fly over my head, but I remember what aircraft it was, an ATR 42-500. This event was the start of my passion for aviation.
After the conversation, I then set out to find how I would be able to gain my very own wings. A friend of mine’s mother was an air hostess for Air Zimbabwe and I asked her where I could train to be a pilot. She gave me very detailed information as she could tell that the flying fever was burning inside of me. I then sat my parents down and broke the news to them, I wanted to fly NOW! I was only 16 at the time and my parents had high hopes that I would attend University after leaving advanced high school.
During my wait to finish school I explored all the avenues that where suggested and received both positive and negative feedback. This one person even said I would never fly, but none the less that would never stop me. They told Albert Einstein in school that he could not do math… we all know how that ended.
In February 2007, I started my flight training at Charles Prince Airport (FVCP) situated on the outskirts of Harare. My first flight was with an Air Force Instructor, Mr. Pascal Muguti. We flew a Piper Cherokee to the General Flying Area where he showed me the skills that I would learn in Z-WFX. That was the first step toward my dream and I could feel the dream was getting closer and my passion for aviation grew even bigger.
I dedicated all my blood, sweat and tear to my training and on 17 July 2008, I had my first solo flight. As I lined up on the runway, I realized there was no instructor next me and my heart skipped a beat. I had my hand on the throttle telling myself to push it in. As I eased the throttle in, the aircraft started to move and immediately I noticed how the aircraft was much lighter as it popped into the air and off I was. The flight would have looked calm from the outside but my head was screaming at me. I then told myself “Tafadzwa Charles Nyakudya, you’ve got this, just remember what your instructor told you…now downwind check, B.U.M.P.P.F.L”. In my best pilot voice, I made my radio call for final approach and set the aircraft into its landing configuration. THIS HAD TO BE A GREASE OF A LANDING. And it was, I remember the sound of the tyres as they kissed the runway. All my fellow aviators where eagerly waiting to initiate me into the fellowship of aviation.

There after I gained my Private Pilot License and moved to South Africa where aviation was a humming hub of tin planes flying all around. I then needed to find a job to support my flight training and started to work as a flight operations cadet where I knew that opportunities could open up for me and learn even more about the industry.

A few months into the job I learned that there was an organization called SAWIA which was offering scholarships. I applied for the scholarship with lots of enthusiasm and hope and fortunately it was granted to me. The scholarship means the future to me. It will grant me the opportunity to acquire a blue South African Civil Aviation Authority Commercial Pilots License sooner than expected. After 5 years of on and off flying, I am now able to complete my training at a smoother pace. It feels as if I have conquered a mountain .With the financial help I am receiving now, the mountain seems like a hill that I can climb with ease and a smile.

Thanks to SAWIA and WAI!
My dream is to become a competent and safe airline pilot for a reputable organization. Before then, I would like to fly some charters in Africa. The thought of landing a 12500lbs aircraft on a dust strip is amazing. Given the opportunity, I would also want to have a shot at flight instruction. I believe such a line of career in aviation enhances one’s flying skills, keeps one theoretically current and gives you the satisfaction that you have successfully helped someone else achieve their dream.

My story about flying does not end here and will never end for as long as I live. I am very grateful to the support and safety net that has been granted to me. No man is an island and in the aviation industry in South Africa we are so fortunate to have Captains, Air hostesses, Flight Clubs and Flight Schools who are willing to give us the information, guidance and knowledge that this generation and many to come will need.
I can go on and on about my aspirations but at this moment I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to SAWIA, WAI, the sponsors and everyone involved for granting me the scholarship. They opened a nest that was closed and now I can walk out, spread my wings and fly into my career!
Tafadzwa Charles Nyakudya