Introduction
During August, Africa Month 2017, Joseph Makamba Busha (Class IX: Tariro), the founder of JM Busha Investment Group, oversaw yet another successful JM BUSHA 54 RACES event. The initiative facilitates and hosts a series of programs across the continent with a mission of encouraging peace and unity.
Below is a transcript of a speech he delivered in Cape Town to launch the JM BUSHA 54 Student Chapter at 22 South African Universities on 17 August 2017. The speech was live-streamed to many university students across the country, as well as Zimbabwean students who were at The University of the Witwatersrand to engage with South African students on innovative solutions to the issues facing Zimbabwe at present.
Speech
LAUNCHING JM BUSHA 54 RACES FOR PEACE & UNITY IN AFRICA AND JM BUSHA 54 STUDENT AMBASSADORS
I am here to introduce the JM BUSHA 54 RACES for Peace and Unity in the Africa Student Ambassadorship Programme. I am here as a Messenger of Peace.
I have no doubt in my mind that you are the future. This view could be shared by many. I have no doubt that you, yourself, believe and know that you are the future. There is no future without you and the next generation. But for this to hold true, the environment must be enabling, the path must be clear. There must be peace.
There is no future without access to free education and health services by all, and innovative research and development. There will not be equitable development as long as the gap between the rich, the political elite, the business class and the poor, is widening.
My brothers and sisters, there is no future without peace. Peace is a pre-requisite for social and economic development. Let’s understand that peace is not the absence of war. Peace is achieved when there is no emotional turmoil, no depression, no oppression and no fighting of any form. Peace is achieved when there are plenty equal opportunities and independent life choices for the individual, the community and the country.
So I founded the JM BUSHA 54 RACES for Peace & Unity in Africa, for us to have this single but imperative pre-requisite to lay the foundation for a better life for all – i.e. peace.
There are three objectives for JM BUSHA 54:
- To promote peace and unity through education, arts, culture, music and sports;
- To engage and enrol individuals and institutions to actively promote and pledge peace, unity, accountability and responsibility at all levels of society, organizations and governments; and
- To raise funds for the African Union (AU) peacekeeping missions, mediation, reconciliation, conflict resolution and crisis management work in Africa, and elsewhere in the world.
So I am here to engage and enrol you to promote and pledge peace and using education, arts, culture and music to achieve that. I call upon you to:
- Establish the JM BUSHA 54 Peace Pledge society/club at your Universities and former High Schools.
- Engage and enrol your colleagues and families for this cause, and
- To be the ambassador for peace wherever you are. Be a personal example.
From an educational perspective, I say “Hold a book and pen – read, write, gain knowledge and you’ll be free to dream, to work, to prosper and become the best of what you can be”.
Finally here is the call to action, the challenge:
“Find a solution to the main social problem your country is facing and stand a chance to win a University academic scholarship worth $5 000 for your tuition fees.”
Be innovative; find a solution to our problems and save us from self-destruction.
Promote and preach peace. Think of the other, #I AM PEACE.
Thank you, thank you. Go in peace, work in peace, live in peace. Be a symbol of peace. # I AM PEACE. GOD BLESS
