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Tomorrow Zimbabwe celebrates 37 years of freedom. Gallant sons and daughters paid with their lives to bring about the freedom that we are enjoying today. Uhuru celebrations will be held throughout the country with the main celebrations being held at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

According to reports, all provinces are geared for the big day which is coming at a time the country is expecting a bumper harvest. The country is expecting to harvest more than two million tonnes of maize which is enough to meet its food requirements.

Zimbabweans are therefore enjoying the fruits of land redistribution which saw more than 300 000 families being allocated land in prime farming areas which used to be a preserve of the minority whites.

One of the reasons why Zimbabweans went to war was the unfair land distribution which saw millions of blacks being confined to barren land while the few white farmers allocated themselves land in prime farming areas.

Many beneficiaries of the land reform programme are using the land productively hence the bumper harvest that the country is expecting.

There are however a few individuals that are leasing their farms to whites and it is time Government takes action against such farmers.

The gallant sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives in order to take back the land stolen from our forefathers are surely turning in their graves because of these individuals who are working to reverse the gains of our hard won Independence. Tomorrow as we meet to wine and dine at the different venues throughout the country, let us take time to take stock of our achievements and failures during the past 37 years.

Our experiences since gaining our independence in 1980 should help us overcome many of the challenges that we are facing today.

Indications are that the country will soon witness an economic turnaround and what is required is for us to have a shared vision and pull in one direction as a nation. Our economy is agro-based so the bumper harvest should therefore spur economic growth.