adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THE Ministry of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees is working on a project to record untold facts of the liberation struggle for future generations.
Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa told war veterans, war collaborators, former political detainees and restrictees in Bulawayo yesterday that the project to record their liberation war accounts would be done in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the European Union (EU).
“We’re going to be working with Unesco on a historiography to bring out what happened during the liberation struggle. For the first time the European Union (EU) is going to allocate a budget towards this project. They’ve never done it in 35 years to give a budget which caters for war veterans,” he said.
“We chided and reminded them that we’re the ones who made the history of the liberation struggle possible.
“They agreed and we’ve had a cordial relationship with the EU and Unesco is coming in. We’re hoping that out of the project, we’ll get a thorough study that will give us a proper historiography of the war based on what exactly happened during that significant period.”
He said there were other countries willing to help Zimbabwe in coming up with the historical accounts in a project that he said would go a long way in enlightening future generations.
“The history of the war is good for our children. The new generation is hungry about this period of the war but there’s nothing written. So we now need to root it in science so that in future when the country becomes prosperous and people want to write poems and do films it will be based on accurate and adequate information,” said the minister.
He said the project will definitely kick-start the war veterans’ new relationship with the EU and bury some acrimonious chapters.
“It will develop a common view point about the history of Zimbabwe and the positive direction which Zimbabwe should have with the EU and other countries, which were formerly not so friendly to the Zimbabwean government,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.
The study of the war, he added, is important because it brings out silent facts.
“We want to be true to the constitution, which recognises the role which was played by different groups of war cadres in the attainment of the freedom of Zimbabwe,” he said.
derick.khumalo