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Zimbabweans from all walks of life yesterday commemorated the 16th anniversary of the death of Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo. Dr Nkomo succumbed to prostate cancer at the age of 82. Umdala Wethu, Father Zimbabwe or Chibwechitedza, as Dr Nkomo was affectionately known, was the champion of unity and even at his death bed was preaching unity.

It is our fervent hope that as Zimbabweans reflected on the rich legacy of one of Zimbabwe’s liberation icons yesterday, the spirit of unity was rekindled. Father Zimbabwe always preached unity among Zimbabweans of all races. It was his desire to see a united Zimbabwe that saw him leading the then PF Zapu to sign the 1987 Unity Accord with Zanu-PF.

Dr Nkomo must be smiling in his grave because one of the goals he worked hard to achieve was the equitable distribution of the country’s finite resource, which is land.

Dr Nkomo spoke passionately about the need to correct the skewed land ownership and at many fora he warned whites who wanted to continue clinging onto the land that they risked igniting another revolution.

The issue of land, Dr Nkomo said, was the main reason why Zimbabwe’s sons and daughters took up arms to fight the settler regime. More than 300,000 families have so far been allocated land in what used to be a preserve of the whites. Dr Nkomo always emphasised the need to be productive, saying the land should sustain the livelihoods of all the families allocated land.

The first part of Dr Nkomo’s struggle of ensuring that the landless blacks were allocated land has been fulfilled and what is outstanding is putting this land to productive use. The challenge to the new farmers therefore is to ensure they do not disappoint the late Dr Nkomo who will definitely turn in his grave if the land is not used productively.

The late Vice President believed that Zimbabwe had qualified human resources in many sectors of the economy hence he was against people seeking services from outside the country. It was his strong belief in Zimbabweans’ capacity to provide specialist medical services that he initiated the establishment of the specialist medical centre, Ekusileni, in Bulawayo.

The 200-bed hospital which was built at a cost of $4 million in 2000 has been lying idle because of a number of challenges. The hospital, which was funded by the National Social Security (NSSA), briefly operated in 2004 but was forced to close due to lack of working capital.

The good news is that government has since announced that the hospital will re-open next month and this will be a befitting way of celebrating the 16th anniversary of Dr Nkomo’s death. We want to say once again that as we celebrate Dr Nkomo’s rich legacy, let us as a nation borrow a leaf or two from his good works that united us as a nation.

It is only through unity of purpose that Zimbabwe can overcome the many challenges that the country is facing today. The major challenge is to turnaround the economy and this is only possible when, as a nation, we have a shared vision. This is the message that Dr Nkomo always preached.