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that saw it take up arms to fight settler colonialists.
But, we also celebrate this historical day when there are some among us who believe that they can fight against and thus reverse the gains of this colossal day.
April 18 1980, then and now is a very personal day. The mood and feeling that this day evokes are a personal matter. To some, it’s just like any other day, with no landmarks to think about. To others, it is very different.

For me, April 18, 1980 always brings back memories. I’ll use my theatrical experience to celebrate this phenomenal day. After realising that I might probably never go back on stage, I decided to use this occasion to say how we celebrated April 18 in reality and on stage from 1980 and thereon.

For, I was part of the cast that staged the first Independence Gala at Reps Theatre in April 1981. “The Storm: A play about the year of The Peoples’ Storm (Gore reGukurahundi)” was the man in the middle’s version of the armed struggle of the liberation of Zimbabwe. Playing the part of a leading lady guerilla fighter whose Chimurenga name was Tsungai Batanai, I tell myself how prophetic that name was. Tsungai means to be courageous and bold, while Batanai is a call for unity. Courage and unity have remained major elements in Zimbabwe’s quest to nationhood in a sometimes hostile international environment.

From the very beginning when our ancestors rebelled against British colonialism, the Zimbabwe narrative was clear-cut and it followed an unwritten formula, a formula that ensured good results at the end.
Some of the liberation war songs, which we used in the 1981 production and later in “Katshaa!: The sound of the AK”, spelt out the journey of the struggle until April 18, 1980.

There was this song about promise and conviction, where the young men and women fighters reminded their elders that, come what may, they would free Zimbabwe from colonial bondage.

They also told Smith and his deputy Dupont fight them to the bitter end until that they have freed Zimbabwe, the land of their forefathers, their birthright. All they needed from the people was support:
He-e vakuruwe-e!
Vakuruwe-e musazokanganwa kuti Zimbabwe tichaitora.
He-e Smith we-e!
Smithwe-e usazokanganwa kuti Zimbabwe tichaitora.
He-e Dupont we-e!
Dupont we-e usazokanganwa kuti Zimbabwe tichaitora.
Tipeiwo chimoto;
Nechimwanda chouswa;
Huni tinondidzinowanira ikoko kuZimbabwe.
Ihe-he hehihere;
Nyika yamadzibaba;
Ihe-he hehihere;
Nyika yeZimbabwe!

This was a mission where they realised that anything untoward could happen to them as they tried to accomplish what they were promising – freedom. In another song, they warned:
Tinofa tichienda kuZimbabwe;
Dzamara tiyambuke;
Muna Zambezi;
Dzamara tinosvika;
KuZimbabwe! (x2)

Crossing the mighty Zambezi River was no mean task, but with determination they sang and told themselves that they would do it, and they accomplished their goal.
They also needed good leadership to achieve their goals and objectives. One of the many songs that extolled the virtues of the Chimurenga leadership (Zanla and Zipra alike) was:
VaMugabewo-o!
Tungamirirai vana kumakomomo,
Vaende kumusha.
VaMugabewo-o!
Tungamirirai vana kumakomomo,
Vaende kumusha.
Chorus: Tondovigwepi?
Isu Mozambique hatidi,
Tinondovigwa kumusha.
Tondovigwepi?
Isu kuZambia hatidi
Tinondovigwa kumusha.
The freedom fighters realised that Zambia, Mozambuque, Tanzania and Botswana were temporary homes until they had accomplished their mission of freeing Zimbabwe.
Although they did not want to be buried in foreign land, for some of them, they unfortunately ended up being buried there.

When Rhodesian forces attacked camps like Mkushi in Zambia, Tembwe, Nyadzonya and Chimoio in Mozambique, those killed in the heartless bombardments ended up being buried in unmarked mass graves on foreign land.
We dramatised this in Katshaa! with the song:
Abantwana be Zimbabwe;
Bafel’ ilizwe.
Abantwana be Zimbabwe;
Bafel’ ilizwe;
Nyadzonya, Nyadzonya;
Nyadzonya.
Mkushi, Mkushi;
Mkushi;
Mkushi, Mkushi.

Then there was the return and the victory that culminated in April 18, 1980, a date that will never be reversed. We sang joyously, and with a sense of finality:
Mauya, mauya Comrade;
Mauya hamuchadzokera.
Mauya, mauya Comrade;
Zvamauya tongai Zimbabwe.

We also appreciated the tremendous contributions made by some regional leaders and their people in their unwavering support of the liberation struggle. Thus we sang:
Ndimi mega Samora naNyerere,
Ndimi moga makaita rudo.
Ndimi mega Seretse naKaunda,
Ndimi mega makaita rudo.
Chorus: Kubatsira veZimbabwe!
Kubatsirawo veZimbabwewo!
Kubatsira veZimbabwe!
Kubatsirawo veZimbabwewo!

Now, you might say 33 years on, what has this got to do with the realities on the ground, especially when there is a dominant view that pushes the future and not the past as the only relevant issue.

I will in turn ask you what realities are on the ground: that illegal regime change forces have been hard at work since the past decade; that some revisionists would want to render the liberation struggle as a non-event; that some people are entertaining the notion that Zimbabwe will become a colony again; and, worst of all that Rhodesians will come back and reclaim whatever they hallucinated as belonging to them; and that land is not an issue?

I usually hear people arguing that Zimbabwe will become like one of the many former colonies, which were weakened because their governance systems were nothing to write home about.

If young people, some of them uneducated dared the British and Rhodesian systems, and still promised to prevail over enemy forces according to the first song, what makes today’s systems, powered by advanced technologies believe that Zimbabwe is a walk over?

To my Zimbabwean colleagues, if today you asked me to write a script about our independence, I will tell you that despite a few rotten apples in our midst, we are no push-overs. I’d also refer you to the book of Prophet Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 10, which says, “Who dares despise the day of small things…”

I am proof of the reality of our independence. As a woman, I might not even have gone beyond Grade  Seven with my academic education, but the spirit of fighting on, which was part of the Chimurenga Spirit propelled me together with thousands of my colleagues. Independence was the best thing that ever happened to us.
I see the Independence feeling when people are able to travel and do their own thing in regional and international destinations: Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania; and international destinations.

Like our Nigerian brothers and sisters, we are now found in every part of the globe. These are the small beginnings we are using subtly to institutionalise our hard-won independence.

At home the indigenisation and economic empowerment are creating avenues for people to be their own men and women. Despite challenges, the rate at which people want to prove that they are able is phenomenal. The construction of better housing units of one’s choice that is going on in urban centres like Harare is amazing. And we dare say that struggle was for nought.

The nomenclature that characterises small to medium enterprises is another indicator that people are happy doing their own thing, and doing so with the understanding that they are masters of their destiny. Some of the names written on commuter omnibuses that give me that feeling that people are in charge are: “1st Daughter; Vatete; Boss Lady; God Given, etc.”

As a nation, we have proved that there is much more about us than meets the eye. Song then, was a morale booster undertaking an impossible task. It’s time to work and transform the nation and prove our detractors wrong.