Harare,  (New Ziana) -Zimbabweans should work together with the same spirit that the First and Second Chimurenga heroes and heroines displayed to achieve the national vision of becoming an upper middle income society by 2030, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday.

He was speaking at the National Heroes Acre at the burial of the late national heroine Air Vice Marshal (Rtd) Winnie Mandeya, whose liberation war name was Comrade Cabby Rujeko-rwehondo.

President Mnangagwa said a new crop of heroes and heroines should emerge across all sectors and age groups.

“The heroes and heroines of the First and Second Chimurenga fought in cold, rough and often impassable terrains. Hope and confidence in their unity and collective power saw them realise the Vision of their time. That of independence and freedom,” he said.

“The same flames must burn among us, in all corners of this great land, as a united and peace-loving people, so that we realise Vision 2030 and a higher quality of life for all.”

He said the country’s modern-day battle grounds are now spread across all sectors, in agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, education and health, as well as the new frontiers of Science, Innovation and Technology and the nation should excel in all these fronts and many others.

President Mnangagwa described the late Mandeya as a bold, fearless, charismatic patriot and cadre, saying dating back to the days of the liberation struggle, she was unwavering in her commitment and dedication to the country.

He said the late Mandeya was a loyal, trustworthy and dependable pair of hands, adding that her demise is a grievous loss, not only to her family, the Defence Forces and War Veterans community, but the nation as a whole.

“The late Comrade, Retired Air Vice Marshal Mandeya, ran the race set before her, that of serving Zimbabwe, with admirable endurance and sacrifice. She fought the good fight and kept her faith and love for our motherland, Zimbabwe, until the end,” he said.

It was a befitting tribute, he said, that she was accorded the highest honour in the country, that of National Heroine and interred at the sacred National Shrine, along-side the valiant Founding Fathers of the country, as well as other heroes and heroines that helped attain independence, freedom and democracy.

President Mnangagwa said the lives of the heroes and heroines interred at the national shrine, as well as throughout provincial and district heroes’ acres, are epitaphs of consistent and persistent dedication to the national interests and cause of Zimbabwe.

“I challenge the nation as a whole, to use these solemn occasions to introspect and reflect on our individual, collective and generational roles we must play, for the Zimbabwe of tomorrow,” he said.

“This yester-year generation of cadres, liberation war-time fighting force and nationalists, which we sadly continue to lose, had a dream of a free and independent Zimbabwe. They relentlessly pursued this dream, against all odds and in spite of the seemingly technically superior enemy, in the mould of the racist Rhodesian settler regime and its allies.”

He said the rich liberation history and the embodiment of numerous re-collections of the lives of the country’s heroes and heroines, beginning at the family to the national level, should be a source of motivation and inspiration to fuel the realisation of Vision 2030.

The late Mandeya, who died at the age of 64, leaves behind a son Valentine Munyaradzi.

New Ziana