INDEPENDENCE DAY 2020

[18th April 2020]

After Forty Years

Defining The Decade Towards 2030

Forty years ago just after midnight on 17th April, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time and the Zimbabwean flag was raised to represent a new era in the city of Salisbury which became Harare.  The fall of one flag and the rise of another symbolised the sunset of Rhodesia and the dawn of Zimbabwe.  Ever since that day, Zimbabweans all over the world have faithfully celebrated the 18th of April as Independence Day from colonial rule.  At the initial celebrations, then Prime Minister Robert Gabriel Mugabe delivered a speech where he urged the people "as Zimbabweans, to trample upon racism, tribalism and regionalism and work hard to reconstruct and rehabilitate our society as we reinvigorate our economic machinery". His speech inspired Zimbabweans to be hopeful and to be proud of their newly gained freedom.  He went on to say “Only a government that subjects itself to the rule of law has any moral right to demand of its citizens obedience to the rule of law ... Our Constitution equally circumscribes the powers of the government by declaring certain civil rights and freedoms as fundamental.  We intend to uphold these fundamental rights and freedoms to the full.”