Harare — TODAY we join the nation in celebrating the lives and works of the heroes and heroines, both living and dead, who dedicated their lives to liberate Zimbabwe from the shackles of colonialism.

This year's commemorations could not have come at a more appropriate time as we once again celebrate the triumph of nation building over political adversity with our previously feuding political parties united in an inclusive Government.

Although we are grieving today for having lost one of the founding fathers of the revolution, Vice President Joseph Msika, a fearless founding nationalist, we are richer for the legacy of stolid patriotism he has left us.

VP Msika, who will be interred today at the National Heroes Acre, could not have chosen a better day to join his fallen colleagues, on the very day dedicated to celebrating their selfless sacrifices.

This day also marks our 12th straight year without official development assistance from the Bretton Woods institutions -- the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Support from these multilateral organisations was withheld because of the illegal economic sanctions imposed by Western nations opposed to the land reform programme, the natural sequel to the 14-year war of attrition that defined some of the men and women we honour today.

Indeed, despite the hardships that reduced the life of the ordinary man to a daily trudge for mortal existence, we celebrate the fact that regardless of the overt and covert attempts to subvert our independence over the past decade, we have remained resolute and staved off all neo-colonial designs.

We have reason to celebrate for these challenges confirm that we have not forgotten why our heroes and heroines laid down their lives.

In fact, the ongoing problems mirror, though they do not surpass, the trials the gallant freedom fighters went through to give us the political independence we enjoy today.

The hardships should be our call for action as the venerated men and women we honour today did not flinch in the face of challenges but remained focused for 14 whole years till they realised their dream of a free Zimbabwe.

Some fell by the wayside and some managed to live on and we are still with them today. To their credit they have carried the baton they were handed by the heroes lying at the national shrine, provincial heroes' acres, mass graves scattered in various countries and unknown graves all over Zimbabwe and the Frontline States with distinction.

We, the living, have a duty to ensure that these heroes and heroines did not die in vain and if, through continuing with the struggle, we invite the wrath of our erstwhile colonisers, that is not a reason to drop the baton.

Instead it should be our motivation to carry on, the same way the heroes who fell at the battlefront urged their colleagues on, even as they breathed their last.

To this end, we challenge the parties to the inclusive Government to introspect to find out whether they are furthering the vision of the heroes and heroines we honour today.

If not, let this be a day of repentance, a day to invoke the progressive spirit shown by our founding fathers, to work as one to bring about the socio-economic independence the heroes laid down their lives for.