Health and Child Care Portfolio Committee Chairperson Ruth Labode has paid tribute to the late former Zambian leader Kenneth Kaunda.
Kaunda died on the 17th of June after a short illness and was buried on the 7th of July.
Speaking in the National Assembly recently, Honourable Labode said she attended free education in Zambia because of Kaunda.
‘’I also want to join my colleagues in thanking the Former President Kenneth Kaunda who sent me to school from Grade 1 up to Form 5 free of charge.
‘’During my days we never even paid for an exercise book. The only thing was to buy your uniform and go to school. Even the exercise books were given kana yazara, unongopiwa imwe.
‘’I lived in Zambia in Livingstone because my mother was a Treasurer for ZAPU and I was a ZAPU youth. Even during campaigns when Kaunda was campaigning you could not differentiate between the UNIP youth and us the ZAPU youth.
‘’We had a slogan which Honourable Zemura started but did not finish. The slogan went like this ‘One Zambia, One Nation, One Nation, One Leader, that Leader Kaunda, Yee, Kaunda, Kwese Kwese, Kaunda’ Bye bye Baba vangu,’’ she said.
Youths have a lot to learn from Kaunda
Speaking on the same issue, Proportional Representation legislator Tatenda Mavetera said youths have a lot of learn from Kaunda.
‘’We need to be quite holistic and find out how he really contributed in making sure that as Zimbabweans and also as Africa. We are also liberated.
‘’Even if you look, when he became the first President of Zambia in 1964, he was 40 years old. What it means is that he was quite youthful by then; that alone also leaves a lot of young people here in Zimbabwe to realise the potential that they have.
‘’As a country right now, we need to understand that we do not need to sit at the peripheral but what we need to do is for us to see and watch things happen so that at least we get involved.
‘’Honourable Speaker, we really want to applaud Dr KK for taking up the challenge and challenging the status-quo,” she said.
Kenneth Kaunda sent me to school: Labode
