Southern Africa: Attempts to Divide SADC Doomed to Fail – President

Efforts by foreign elements to sow seeds of discord in SADC will come to naught and Zimbabwe will next week deliver a unique and memorable SADC Summit, President Mnangagwa said yesterday.

Addressing mourners at the burial of General (Rtd) Cde Makhethi Ndebele at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe would not be deterred or discouraged by fruitless attempts to derail the 44th SADC Summit that will be held in Harare on August 17 and 18.

“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,” charged the President.

SADC, said President Mnangagwa, was a key lever in defending regional peace and sovereignty, and to this end, efforts to destabilise the region would not 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.”

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was ready to assume the chair of SADC and would lead from the front in its year in cementing regional unity and indivisibility.

“We take pride in that in a few days to come, our nation will host the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government. Thereafter, we assume chairmanship of our sub-regional body, which is a key lever for defending our collective peace and sovereignty.

“Now that the SADC flag, together with our national flag and alongside those of sister republics have been hoisted in readiness for the glorious occasion, this serves as a symbol of the common history and shared future we have as a united and indivisible SADC region.

“As descendants of Munhumutapa, we are ready to rise and shine as we carry the mantle of our founding fathers and forebears,” he said.

The President said it was important that the visiting Presidents and their delegations were shown the immense development taking place in the country albeit under the yoke of baneful economic sanctions.

“Let us also use the occasion to showcase the massive progress we have registered against all odds, in spite of the illegal sanctions imposed on us and climate change. We have a duty to motivate, inspire and share experiences with our counterparts towards the prosperity and a higher quality of life of the peoples of the entire SADC region.”

Zimbabwe remained deeply rooted in its diplomatic standing as “a friend to all and an enemy to none”.

“Our vision of becoming a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030 can only be attained through positive image building. Our individual and collective efforts must deepen national cohesion and advance the development, modernisation and industrialisation of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Turning to the late national hero, President Mnangagwa described Cde Ndebele as a distinguished patriot whose passing on had dealt a blow to the generality of Zimbabweans and the war veterans’ fraternity.

“Today, we are befittingly laying to rest a cadre with a strong allegiance to the ethos of our liberation struggle, an epitome of patriotism and loyal man to the nation, who never wavered. He remained consistent and persistent in serving his country and people. 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,” he said.

President Mnangagwa extended his heartfelt condolences to the Ndebele family while also imploring the nation to draw lessons from Cde Ndebele’s exemplary life.

“On behalf of the Government and the people of Zimbabwe, our revolutionary mass Party, ZANU PF, my family, and indeed on my behalf, I express my heartfelt condolences to the Ndebele family at this sorrowful loss.

“May you find solace in that the contributions of our late national hero towards liberating our motherland, Zimbabwe, will remain etched in the history of our country. Your loss is felt by us all, and the nation he so diligently served with honour and a sense of selfless sacrifice.

“As we strive to achieve our national economic developmental goals, we take lessons from the exemplary life of the late national hero, Cde Ndebele, to raise our consciousness and always guard against ruinous as well as predatory prescriptions on our economic and political governance architecture,” he said.

President Mnangagwa went on to chronicle the late national hero’s military career.

“The National Hero we are laying to rest today trained at Morogoro in Tanzania under the military command of Cde Albert Nxele, with Zimbabwe’s present Ambassador to Russia Cde Ambrose Mutinhiri, as Chief of Staff.

“The instructors included Comrades Nikita Mangena, Lookout Masuku and Sam Mfakazi, among others. It was at Morogoro that Cde Ndebele was trained together with Umkhonto weSizwe cadres. Following his initial training, he proceeded to further training in reconnaissance and intelligence in the then-Soviet Union.

“Upon his return from the Soviet Union, he was appointed instructor at Morogoro in Tanzania, where many guerrilla fighters and Umkhonto weSizwe cadres passed through his tutelage,” he said.

“Our late national hero ‘Cde Jack Mpofu’ was later deployed to the front, operating as a commander in the Western Front with other senior ZIPRA cadres in areas such as Victoria Falls and Hwange.

“Our national hero was part of the entourage when ZIPRA Commander, General Nikita Mangena was killed in a landmine explosion following an ambush by the Rhodesian Forces near Deka Drum in the Zambezi Valley on 28 June 1978. He suffered a life-long injury due to this incident.

“After independence, Cde Ndebele continued to play a very critical role in nation-building as a member of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association.”

Cde Ndebele, whose Chimurenga name was ‘Comrade Jack Mpofu’, was born on 6 June 1942 in Plumtree, Mangwe District under Chief Tshitshi, in Matabeleland South Province.

He did his primary education at Tshitshi Primary School from Sub A to Standard 3 and later proceeded to Mbakwe Mission, until Standard 6.

Cde Ndebele is revered for being one of the pioneer combatants who was among the first 200 cadres to join the war of liberation in 1967.

Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Zanu PF Politburo and Central Committee members and senior Government officials attended the burial.