Unity Day Is Meaningless, It Should Be Called “Vene Day” Instead – Mahere

Outspoken former opposition MP Fadzayi Mahere has criticised the country’s ruling elite, whom she refers to as “Vene” (Owners), for creating such deep divisions that she believes celebrating Unity Day has become meaningless. She suggested that the day should instead be called “Vene Day.”

Unity Day, observed annually on 22 December, marks the signing of the 1987 Unity Accord, a historic agreement between the country’s two major liberation movements, ZANU and ZAPU.

Mahere argued that 22 December should not be a public holiday, saying there is no real national unity to celebrate. She said:

“Nhasi dai mangoti vanhu vaende zvavo kubasa nokuti unity ichirikure nemi. Munodzinga vanhu vakavhoterwa nevanhu muParliament.

“Munorambidza vanhu kuita marally kana asiri enyu. Munoshungurudza vanhu vasiri vebato renyu. Munotyichidzira vanhu nekuvapisira dzimba.

“Munodzipa nekubhagura Opposition isiri chidhori chenyu. Gold chairo munoti kana munhu asina kusimudza chibhakera haaribate. Matender enyika munoti asina scarf haalume.

“Munoda kuti vanhu vasiri venyu vatambure nenhamo. Kana munhu chero GenZ munoti kana asiri 4imi, ngaashaiwe matender, mabasa nemari. Vaimbi vasiri venyu munovarambidza kuridza.

“Mumwe munhu akavhoterwa asiri wenyu chero paradio munoita kunge magarwa, kuita godo rinenge sauti yaendwa nemvura. Munodaidzira kuti radio yacho ivharwe.

“Sarudzo chaidzo hamudi. Munosarudza kutobvarura bumbiro remutemo nehukasha. Saka Unity yacho murikuita naani?

“Chinjai zvenyu zita racho muiti Vene Day, isu vamwe toenda kubasa imi mopemberera zvinhu zvacho mega. Zvaizvezvi matikuvadza neDisunity.”

Today, you should have simply told people to go to work, because unity is still far from you. You expel people who were elected by the citizens from Parliament. You forbid rallies unless they are yours. You harass people who do not belong to your party. You intimidate people by burning their houses. You suffocate and crush the Opposition as if it were your plaything.

You even say that with gold, if someone does not raise a fist, they cannot touch it. You claim that in national matters, anyone without a scarf cannot participate. You want those who are not part of you to suffer in poverty. Even if someone is Gen Z, you say that if they are not with you, they must be denied tenders, jobs, and money. You ban musicians who are not aligned with you from performing.

If someone elected is not yours, even on the radio, you act as though you are possessed, showing jealousy like a sound drowned by water. You even called for that radio station to be shut down. You do not want real elections. Instead, you choose to tear apart the constitution with violence. So, with whom exactly are you practising this unity?

Change the name of your celebration and call it Vene Day (Owners’ Day), while the rest of us go to work and leave you to celebrate your own things alone. What you are doing is not unity—it is harming us with disunity.

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