Robert Mugabe Speech: 23rd Independence Anniversary, 18 April 2003

Today, the 18th of April 2003, is a special day for our country, marking the twenty-three years we have travelled as an independent and sovereign people. I say hearty congratulations Zimbabwe, and may this precious day forever remain with the children of this land. Long live our Freedom! Long live our Independence! In commemorating this day, we remain ever conscious of the fact that, behind it, is a whole history of painful struggle and huge sacrifice by our people. We use the day to affirm to them that the same spirit of patriotism, which propelled their valiant sons and daughters to battle, today immanently pervades and guards this nation, quick to chastise any of its citizens who dare betray the cause by pawning our hard-won Independence. Dear Zimbabweans, it gives me immeasurable pleasure to be able to tell you that the land which, for over a century and a decade we yearned to recover, has indeed finally come back. It has been delivered back to you who are its rightful owners. It has come back, notwithstanding the obstacles presented at every step of the way, by powerful western interests. Through our Land Reform Programme, we have now set a new concrete benchmark to our Independence. We have fore-grounded the question of decolonisation, the central question of the rights and conditions of the neo-colonially occupied and oppressed. The so-called unipolar world would like us to accept deprivation and, because we have asserted the right of our sovereignty, we are regarded as a great threat to powerful nations of the western hemisphere. In exercising the right of ownership to our resources, we designed our land reform, funded and implemented it with only that foreign assistance that came from a few friendly countries, most of them in the non-western world. We thank them immensely for their support and co-operation. The milestone we have achieved through our land reform is not the only important achievement of our twenty-three years of Independence. Even our own detractors grudgingly acknowledge the strides we have made in education and manpower development, health and child welfare, horticulture and forestry, mining and infrastructural development. Indeed, we have educated our children like no other nation on the sub-continent has done. Our literacy level is uniquely high, well over eighty percent, and quite a far cry from the low literacy levels under the British settler colonialism. Our products excel wherever they are and are in great demand throughout the world, including Britain. Our goal of universal primary education has largely borne fruit, as has also the vastly improved access to secondary education. Tertiary education has significantly expanded, underpinned by a good secondary educational base, numerous colleges, polytechnics, vocational schools or centres, and more than half a dozen universities, all except one, founded after Independence. I would like also to refer to our Electrification Programme, which is set to transform the life and economy of our countryside, again setting another benchmark of post-Independence progress. Given another two years, we shall certainly have electrified most of our rural areas. Our efforts at reviving the economy and improving the general welfare of our people can only take place in an environment of peace. As already noted, Zimbabwe has enjoyed continual peace, especially so after the landmark Unity Accord of 22 December 1987. This environment of peace has been the envy of many nations who have had the misfortune of losing their peace through fratricidal conflict. Let us maintain it through our national unity and complete rejection of violence. Those who reject democracy and choose the road of violence to achieve their political goals are the evil enemies of Zimbabwe and will not be allowed to succeed. Zimbabwe continues to seek interaction with other nations. Zimbabwe is an African country, which is part of the Third World. It belongs to a number of African and Third World organizations. We are a member of SADC, COMESA and the African Union and accordingly we shall continue to work towards greater integration of our region. This is more vital now than ever before, given the imperialist attempts by powerful nations to divide and subject us to their will. We abhor imperialistic machinations and iniquitous efforts by Britain and its ally, the United States, to recognize us and we stand ready to resist such attempts. Africa is far for Africans and Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans! Let us remain united in defence of our sovereignty, and in seeking a better future for our people. Let us believe in our future, an African future, shaped and driven by our ideals and efforts. We have already made a start to the turnaround of our economy and are beginning to break the economic shackles imposed by imperialism on our country. Our land, our dear Zimbabwe, will never again fall into foreign hands. Never, never, never! Long live our Freedom. Long live our Independence.