Tawanda Chenana
Special Correspondent
WE, in the village, see the formation of the War Veterans League as not only a welcome development, but also a challenge to all citizens of this great nation.This is a constituency of men and women who gave their all, sacrificed everything to restore that which had been brutally taken away from us by the imperialists.
Many carry physical and psychological wounds that have not healed up to now.
The trauma of the liberation war continues to haunt many who, up to today, cannot get a good night’s sleep.
Yet despite all this, they do not demand any preferential treatment. Instead, they organise themselves to continue helping their beloved motherland.
What more example and definition of service do we need?
This is a League formed not for self-benefit.
It is a League of champions.
It is a League of extraordinary men.
It is a League of extraordinary women.
Women and men who have put their country first, throughout their lives.
As we work towards achieving Vision 2030 of an upper middle income economy and building our country brick-by-brick, this is a League that can help sharpen our spear of development.
In Africa, it is said if an old person passes on, it is similar to a whole library burning down.
And we know for a fact that our war veterans are fountains of wisdom.
Our war veterans have chosen not to get into retirement, which they rightly deserve and live a life of ease, but continue serving, guiding, advising and protecting Dzimbahwe.
Our young are more familiar with Western and foreign events and characters and many would know that:
Explorer Marco Polo was only 17 years old when he sailed for Asia,
Mother Teresa was a mere 19-year-old when she began her work in India.
Albert Einstein first penned his theory of relativity at the age of 19.
Joan of Arc led 3 000 French knights into battle at age 17?
Louie Braille created an alphabet for the blind at the ripe age of 15?
Bill Gates started a business at 15, and launched Microsoft at age 20?
Every one of these teenagers embraced a challenge that called out the best in them.
But do you also know that many members of the War Veterans League were also teenagers and adolescents when they took the decision to take up arms against a colonial force that had an airforce, a salary, many advanced weapons, tanks including lethal chemical weapons.
Cde Digden Mushambaneroparemabhunu was just 16 and a bright student who left school to join the liberation struggle.
Cde Sting Hatikurirwi was 19 and about to begin the first year of law studies when the call to liberate the motherland superseded everything else.
It was the country’s youths that filled up the training camps. When I sit, reflect and sift through what was timeless in those young people – our war veterans today – I find so many qualities that we must replicate today.Â
Qualities that our young and every other patriotic citizen must emulate.
Bravery, courage, daredevil, hopeful, optimist, determined, never-say-die attitude, believers.
The above and many more, characterised our war veterans and drove them to tread where angels would have feared.
And the formation of the War Veterans League is another statement that they are not yet done serving and delivering for their nation.
And this is a challenge to us all.
We should hang our heads in shame if the best we can do as MaDzimbabwe is complain, sabotage and sellout and fail to emulate and build on the legacy bequeathed us.
Our major problem, which is the Western intrusive hand sowing mayhem among us to destabilise the country, is not hypothetical, superficial or artificial, but very real and requires our best effort to fend it off.
We need to be grappling with important issues such as how to effectively bust the sanctions that continue to interfere with our effort to revive the economy.
Every one of those youngsters, who today are members of the War Veterans League, did not just take risks, but was forced to do some critical thinking about what mattered most, personal achievement or freedom for all.
They had to process why their personal achievements had to be put on hold.
And this we must also do today.
Future generations depend on the decisions we make today.
Zimbabwe’s freedom was won after young and old people alike realised the best version of themselves when they were forced to think hard of what mattered the most.
Today we live in times of impetuous social media posts and short-term thinking.
The world of WhatsApp, Facebook, Netflix, Instagram and Snapchat seems to be keeping us on the ‘surface’ and not allowing us to think deeply.
Let us prepare for the long haul, think of projects big enough to require deep thinking and planning.
In short, let us pluck a leaf from our war veterans and do everything for the motherland.
