adminTHE new man at the helm of the Zimbabwe War Veterans’ Association, Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa, has a Herculean task at hand. He now needs all the necessary support as in him, ex-freedom fighters have found a fearless, intelligent and highly articulate leader. The astute war veteran is what the doctor ordered — taking over the reins from the renegade Jabulani Sibanda. Indeed Cde Mutsvangwa is coming in at a time when the revolutionary party is under siege, threatened from within by its own children.
Cde Mutsvangwa goes straight into action, defending the party and its leader, Cde Robert Mugabe, from hijackers, who were just a matter of hours away from ascending to power by hook and crook.
Another big task awaiting Cde Mutsvangwa is the reburial of his fellow fallen heroes and heroines, who perished at the battle front but their remains are still lying scattered around the country in shallow graves and mine shafts, among many other places.
Some 34 years after independence, many families are struggling to come to terms with the whereabouts of their fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. These gallant daughters and sons of the soil are wailing and crying to be taken home for decent reburials.
It is high time Government complemented efforts by the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe to reunite and appease the spirits of the restless freedom fighters by offering full-scale funding towards their exhumation and reburial of their remains.
On several occasions the Minister of Home Affairs, under whose ambit this mammoth responsibility falls, has been quoted acknowledging the responsibility and pledging to take yet-to-materialise corrective action.
“We have built some of the best mass graves in Chimoio, Nyadzonia in Mozambique as well as some at Freedom Camp in Zambia. We went on to create the National Heroes Acre for those of us still alive today, forgetting those comrades whose remains still lie in shallow graves across the country,” said Cde Mohadi.
Last week, Cde Mohadi said Government has not allocated any penny towards this crucial task. Nobody seems to care. To Cde Mutsvangwa, we say these things are better done than not.
What we witnessed last Friday at Matumba Six mine in Mutasa where of 71 victims of colonial atrocities perpetrated by the Rhodesian forces retrieved from a mine shaft at Matumba Six and Haparari Village in Mutasa and reburied must be replicated in all areas where indigenous cadres who died in defence of their country against alien invaders lie in shallow graves.
Everyone was agreeable the spirits of these cadres were crying for appeasement. Their supreme sacrifice must be honoured.
The private sector as well as individuals must take this programme seriously by donating in cash or kind, so that FHTZ has a pool of resources dedicated towards the sanctification of similar sites.
We must work hard and ensure that sites such as The Butcher in Rusape and Matumba Six in Mutasa are well kept so that the heroes are given the respect they deserve.
Heroes’ commemorations at district and provincial levels must be strengthened and many more shrines should be built so that our generation connects with them as well as the values, aspirations and convictions that propelled our liberation struggle.
We hope and trust that Cde Mutsvangwa will vigorously push for the continued reburial of our departed comrades.
Online Reporter