Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Wallace Ruzvidzo, Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has implored students on Government-to-Government scholarship programmes outside the country to raise the Zimbabwean flag as they are not just going to study but represent the country as its Ambassadors.
Yesterday, the President saw off five beneficiaries of an Algerian scholarship programme extended to him by his counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The five students are Natasha Deni, Bukhosi Maphosa, Albert Jakarasi, Melogina Mano and Tinovimbanashe Kamutero.
They will be studying in various fields including Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine, areas which the President said were crucial in Zimbabwe’s development matrix.
In his send-off remarks at State House in Harare, President Mnangagwa charged the students to make the country proud in their endeavours.
“You are now Ambassadors of our motherland Zimbabwe as you go for this programme in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine. These are very critical fields for developing countries like Zimbabwe so you must consider yourselves very lucky to have been selected. When you are there you individually and collectively become Ambassadors of our country. So never think that you are an individual, wherever you are, you are actually representing us,” he said.
Zimbabweans are known the world over for their hard work and tenacity, something President Mnangagwa said the students should showcase.
“Mukanyadzisa muri ikoko hamuna kunyadzisa vabereki venyu chete, matonyadzisa nesuwo ende kana madaro tinozonetsekana mangwana kuti titume here vamwe (If you act in an unbecoming manner during your stay in Algeria know that you have not only let your parents down but the nation at large and it will be difficult for us to send more students).
“Saka garai muchiziva kuti wakamirira nyika, hauna kuzvimirira pachako (You should always know that you are representing the country, you are not representing yourself).
“You must go ahead and show the values of hard work. You must show that you are coming from a hard-working country. You must commit yourself to why you are there,” he said.
“You must go there with determination and courage and a sense of pride. Wherever Zimbabwean students go, they perform very well, we have that record across the world.”
President Mnangagwa said the scholarships were a testament to the cordial relations between Harare and Algiers.
“Zimbabwe and Algeria have a longstanding relationship that continues to deepen. We have consolidated our relations and this is why we have this offer because our relationship is strengthening and is becoming more and more comprehensive.
“I wish to congratulate you students on your study assignment in Algeria.
“We have a very long standing relationship with Algeria and the students that have gone before you behaved very well and upheld the good relations between us (Zimbabwe and Algeria),” he said.
“I hope you will not be the group that will spoil that relationship…if that happens, our prisons are not full.”
President Mnangagwa shared a lighter moment with the students.
“Just think of it as ‘you are representing ED’, it’s a tall order so you must always keep that in mind. As you represent us in foreign lands, you should know you are not representing yourself. You are representing us.
“And before you sleep, you should pray and say, I am representing ED so I must do my best,” said the President light-heartedly.
“…when you come back here, it’s either I will give you a red carpet and congratulate you or you spend a few days behind bars for misrepresenting us.”
He also encouraged the students to cherish the scholarship opportunity as it was not something to take for granted.
“So as you go ahead, you must embrace every opportunity you find so that you can bring such experience back home for the benefit of developing our country. You are only very few.
“The students in this country of your age, with your qualifications, are so many, but you have been found fit to take up this challenge.
“You have been given guidance by your parents that you will not be representing your families but Zimbabwe,” the President said.
As beneficiaries of the cordial relations between Zimbabwe and Algeria, President Mnangagwa encouraged the students to hoist the country’s flag high as this would see more scholarship opportunities being availed.
“You see, these scholarships are a testament to the relationship between Zimbabwe and Algeria.
“If you carry yourself in high esteem during your time there we will certainly get more scholarships because of our good mannerisms. If you do not represent us well then they will just reduce the number,” he said.
President Mnangagwa also had some words for the students’ parents and guardians who were present during the send-off.
“To the parents, do not expect financial benefits while the children are in Algeria, these children are going to school so you are the ones who should actually send them money,” he said.
Algerian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mohamed Seoudi said Zimbabwe was more than a friend to Algeria hence the continuous extension of scholarships.
“Our relations (with Zimbabwe) are going on excellently and what is better than the building of human resources? That is why Algeria is giving Zimbabwe more than 100 scholarships each year including these ones extended to the President from his brother (Algerian President).
“Like the President says, ‘nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’. Algeria is very committed to countries on the African continent like Zimbabwe who are more than friends to us,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Natasha Deni, said she was elated to have been accorded the scholarship.
“I am 20 and I was overjoyed, excited and most of all grateful to God for awarding me this opportunity and also to the President for this scholarship opportunity,” she said.
Another student, Melogina Mano, said she was grateful for the opportunity.
“I am very happy because this is not an opportunity accorded to many,” she said.
