MDC Statement On Unity Day Commemorations {Full Text}

Towards a shared Zimbabwean dream

The liberation icon, Joshua Nkomo, said at the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987, “… unity is not just the signing of documents, unity is what follows.”

What has followed is a country at odds with its own ideals, a country that speaks the rhetoric of unity yet its citizens are imprisoned by deeply rooted divisions made worse by the government’s inability to acknowledge the trauma and suffering of its citizens.

The injustices of the past continue to be swept under the carpet. The colonial-era injustices, the liberation war era injustices, and post-independence injustices must all be negated through a national process of truth-telling, nation-building, national healing and rehabilitative restorative justice.

The Gukurahundi atrocities remain glossed over and dismissed as mere “disturbances” while the victims continue to live with the trauma of unhealed wounds left to fester through insincerity and negligence. The very fabric of the Zimbabwean dream continues to be eroded by the plague of greed and corruption as our people languish in poverty and hunger.

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Murambatsvina left many homeless and hopeless. Violent elections and politically instigated violence have left many dead and wounded. Government policies have eroded peoples’ savings and wealth. Pensioners and the vulnerable are without any cushion against the brutality of the harsh economic circumstances.

This is not unity. True peace and reconciliation require us to sincerely address the divisions in our society, to give voice to those who are marginalised and oppressed, to work together in common purpose to ensure the promises of liberation are enjoyed by every single Zimbabwean without fear or favour. Until this day comes, we cannot claim to be united or free.

We cannot preach unity when we pursue economic policies that widen the divide between the rich and the poor. We have seen the imposition of austerity measures that punish the poor, for the mistakes made by the selfish, ruling elite.

These economic policies do not unite us. They divide us.

Inequality is growing. It’s one of the biggest threats to the security of our country, and to our unity as a people.

This is not the unity Joshua Nkomo signed for.

The MDC will continue to fight for a truly united Zimbabwe where the ideals of freedom, democracy, peace, and reform belong to every citizen of our beloved nation.

True unity must be beyond just the unity of parties or its leaders. It must be a unity of all people of our beautiful Zimbabwe in vision, ideals, values and destiny.

We must all build the Zimbabwe we deserve and want-the shared Zimbabwean dream.

United we stand.