BY WINSTONE ANTONIO TODAY, Zimbabweans celebrates Unity Day in commemoration of the Unity Accord signed in 1987 by the late former President Robert Mugabe and late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo. As part of the celebrations, many events are lined-up across the country. NewsDay Life & Style caught up with artistes who shared their sentiments in reflection of the day.
Savanna Trust and theatre director Daniel Maphosa
“Unity Day is very important for us as Zimbabweans considering that we had civil strife prior to 1987 where thousands of lives were lost. So the coming together of former liberation movements (on December 22 1987) meant that at least we would have peace as the warring, fighting and killing of people was stopped,” he said.
“As an artiste, the day reminds me that we have to respect each other as a nation, we have to find ways of maintaining peace, we have to continuously pursue peace and be inspired to work together as a nation. Social cohesion is of paramount importance.”
“As an artiste, it is difficult to practise your art in a war environment as you are always living in fear so it is important that we have a peaceful nation. Going forward, I begin to ask: Have we achieved what we set out to achieve when we signed the agreement that set December 22 as Unity Day?”
“As an artiste, I say this day must be used to unite people, so that we continue to pursue that which we said on paper we wanted to pursue on the day in 1987. We should finalise issues such as Gukurahundi, human rights abuses, polarisation, issues around hate speech that are flying all over the country. We should also address poverty if we are to have sustainable unity.”
“The day will only be meaningful if we deal with these issues. We need to confront and face these issues so that our Unity Day is meaningful. If we just use the day as a smokescreen, we won’t enjoy the unity we sought to attain.”
“Also let us reflect and think deeply on what this day really means. We should ask ourselves: Have we achieved what we intended to when this day was proclaimed? We need to find true peace and make sure that we move forward as one nation.”
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Gospel singer and cleric Charles Charamba
“I am one of those people who cherish peace and unity. I witnessed war firsthand as a child and know the difference between strife and peace.”
“My plea and prayer to fellow countrymen is that we should never lose our peace to anything. Unity at all costs preserves our peace. Unity Day is a special day that helps us to delete our tribal, ethnic and racial differences.”
“The Bible is a book of love and reconciliation and Unity Day fits very well in the theme of the holy book.”
Jah Prayzah
“Unity Day is a day we celebrate as a mark of unity between our tribes in Zimbabwe. We might have different tribal backgrounds and beliefs, but we are one and we all form this beautiful country, Zimbabwe.”
“Our tribes living together in harmony is just a sign of how we are a beautiful people who tolerate and accept each other. Unity Day also goes beyond tribal unity, but also unity among us the citizens of Zimbabwe regardless of race, colour, values and principles.”
“We have millions of fans across Zimbabwe and beyond, remembering that we are united as one makes our job a lot easier and we are happy to entertain every Zimbabwean out there. When we tour outside Zimbabwe, we are happy to show how we are united as a people.”
Filmmaker and Viva Wenera executive producer Eddie Ndhlovu
“United we stand, divided we fall. Unity Day started off as two political parties came together, but for now, it symbolises the coming together of people for a good purpose, which is living in peace and harmony.”
“We, therefore, have to celebrate tolerance and unity among ourselves.”
United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean actress, dancer and choreographer Enisia Mashusha
“Unity Day is all about embracing our differences, promoting empathy and respect among ourselves.”
“There is a lot of cyber-bullying from some artistes and social isolation that is being triggered mostly by Passion Java. He (Java) needs to stop separating artistes in a bid to gain popularity. To me, that is being selfish and self-centred. Let’s all unite in the arts industry regardless of tribe or region.
Filmmaker Joe Njagu
“This Unity Day commemorates the merger of two political parties in Zimbabwe in December 1987.”
“The big takeaway for me is the unity itself, coming together makes things easy as they say chara chimwe hachitswanye inda. As artistes, our unity is also in collaboration.”
“When we come together to create, we are bound to succeed. As a filmmaker that is one of our keys to succeed. Collaborating is key. That is what that means to me.”
Songstress Pah Chihera
“The meaning of Unity Day to me as an artiste is having the freedom to perform for the Shona, Ndebele, Ndau people without being judged.”
“Unity Day is vital as it is celebrated bearing in mind the contributions of both our fallen heroes and heroines to the liberation struggle.
Unity brings us together and opens a pathway to common goals as the old adage says united we stand, divided we fall.”
Instrumentalist and music producer Clive “Mono” Mukundu
“Unity Day is a important day to us. It is also in line with the principles of pan-Africanism championed by Africa’s founding fathers, the likes of Kwame Nkrumah. We should cherish the unity that we got in 1987.”
Urban grooves music diva Pauline Gundidza
“Unity Day is usually a working day for me, but since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, you find less festivities and less work for us artistes and this has affected us adversely.”
“However, we love our country and our people and we join the nation in celebrating the gains of our sovereign nation and we look forward to a peaceful and united Zimbabwe for generations to come.”
United States-based songbird Rufaro Cindy Munyavi
“On this day, I reflect on the fact that we should love each other as Zimbabweans regardless of race, colour, creed or tribe as we are one people.”
- Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
