Abstract
National holidays are some of the oldest known forms of nation-mythologizing used for
managing, producing and reproducing national memories and identities. They are
calendrically set aside days free from work where a people pause and reflect on who
they are as a nation. A study of national holidays in the Zimbabwean context exposes
the malleability, fragility and contestability of ‘official’ notions of nationhood as
imagined by Zimbabwean president and the ruling Zimbabwe National Union Patriotic
Front’s (ZANU-PF) leader - Robert Mugabe. This article contends that national
holidays have been adulterated by Mugabe who, when presiding over them, fuses the
personal and national by speaking both as an individual, president of the country and
leader of ZANU-PF for politically expedient ends. With this in mind, this article
devotes its focus to the study and analysis of Mugabe’s speeches on three most cathartic
national holidays, namely, Heroes Day, Defence Forces Day and Independence Day, as
covered in state controlled The Herald newspaper between 2000-2014...