Story by Tichaona Kurewa
THE 11th Meeting of Secretary Generals and Wings of former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa kicked off in Victoria Falls this Monday with calls for them to guard against neo-colonialism.
With South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and Namibia conducting general elections this year, former liberation movements have implored the SADC region to guard against infiltration and neo-colonialism.
The call for a united front against imperialism was the rallying point as the former liberation movements met in Victoria Falls.
ZANU PF Secretary General, Cde Obert Mpofu said, “We should be worried about the hidden hand of our detractors who have attacked the liberation movements with the aim of dividing us. We must remain vigilant from such manoeuvres and remain united. We should draw lessons from the harmonised elections we held here in Zimbabwe in August 2023, where my party ZANU PF emerged victorious.
“However, after the victory, there were attacks from our fellow brothers here in SADC who had been influenced by our detractors. As you may be aware, the opposition-aligned and Western-sponsored media have been on a crusade to discredit the great work being done by us for the benefit of our people. These are all efforts aimed at derailing the people’s agenda.”
SWAPO Secretary General, Cde Sophia Shaningwa added her voice on the need to incorporate young people in politics to safeguard the gains of the liberation struggle.
“Most of us liberators of our countries are ageing, it is one of our responsibilities to start talking and put it right that it’s also time for us to groom the youth generations to take over from us when we go on retirement. It is important for liberation movements to have people who will take on the revolutionary spirit so that they keep our SADC together.”
The former liberation movements’ youth leagues are well aware of their role.
ANC Youth League Secretary General, Cde Mntuwoxolo Ngudle said, “The liberation struggle in the Southern African region continues and we are here to support our mother bodies to ensure that our struggle as you know is intergenerational, it has got its history, it must have its feature and that why we are here today to take the button and learn from the experiences of the elders so that we be able to advance the revolution forward.”
“We appreciate the efforts of our elders I trying to teach us, guide us how to continue with the struggle but we want to appreciate everything that is going on. It is important for youth wings to understand where these revolutionary parties are coming from and where they are going so that we know how to handle political issues in terms of the detractors that are fighting us as a region,” said ZANU PF Secretary for Youth Affairs, Cde Tino Machakaire.
In attendance are all the seven former liberation movements from the SADC region including ZANU PF, SWAPO of Namibia, South Africa’s ANC, MPLA of Angola, Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi, FRELIMO of Mozambique and Botswana’s BDP.
The meeting, which is the first post-COVID-19 ends this Tuesday and will also see ANC taking over the chairmanship of the movement from ZANU PF.
