by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE South African branch of the ruling Zimbabwe African Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has marked Heroes and Defence Forces Days by urging compatriots to shun corruption.
The holidays, two of the most iconic in the Zimbabwean calendar, are this year marked on Monday and Tuesday (August 9 and 10).
“ZANU-PF SA takes this opportunity to encourage all Zimbabweans to shun corruption and all vices that are anathema to development and embrace the development trajectory that has been taken by the new dispensation,” said Kennedy Mandaza, ZANU-PF SA spokesperson.
“This is what our heroes and heroines sacrificed for, to see a Zimbabwe in which all Zimbabweans are free and positively contributing to the economic development of our great nation.”
Heroes Day celebrates the individuals who freed the nation from British colonialism.
“The Heroes Day as a national annual event seeks to remind us of the ideals and objectives of the liberation struggle, upon which we should all unite as a nation,” Mandaza explained.
Independence was attained in 1980.
“The heroes and heroines we celebrate believed and cherished unity and hard work as hallmarks of our success as a people,” Mandaza said.
“Therefore we call upon all Zimbabweans regardless of their geographical location to contribute to the socio-economic transformation of our great nation. This is a challenge we should all grapple with.”
Mandaza urged Zimbabweans to celebrate this commemoration responsibly in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We encourage all Zimbabweans to take all non-pharmaceutical precautions such as social distancing, masking and sanitising, seriously in order to contain the spread of the virus.”
Zimbabwe has recorded over 116 000 cases of COVID-19, including 3 900 deaths.
Graft and COVID-19 are two of the scourges the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa is contending with.
– CAJ News