Online Reporter
Zimpapers Politics Hub
THE Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe (FHTZ) is awaiting Treasury approval of a US$28, 000 budget to facilitate the reburial of the remains of 36 liberation war combatants exhumed last year in Sanyati and Hurungwe, as the country prepares for an intensified national programme of exhumations and reburials in 2026.
Belonging to ZIPRA freedom fighters who perished during the armed struggle, the remains were exhumed from mass graves as part of ongoing efforts to restore dignity to fallen combatants who were buried anonymously decades ago.
The exhumed remains are currently being held at Kadoma and Karoi District Morgues, pending reburial at the Grand Parade Farm Shrine in Hurungwe.
FHTZ submitted the burial budget to the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle in mid-2025 for onward transmission to Treasury. The Trust had planned to conduct the burials in December, shortly after the Christmas holidays, but the exercise could not proceed due to the non-disbursement of funds.
In an interview with Zimpapers Politics Hub, FHTZ national chair Dr Arthur Makanda confirmed that the organisation remains on standby, ready to proceed immediately, once funding is released.
“Once the budget is disbursed, we will go ahead with the burials,” Dr Makanda said, stressing that the delay is administrative rather than organisational.
However, the burial programme has also intersected with what Dr Makanda described as a highly sensitive spiritual development involving prominent fallen liberation fighters who died more than six decades ago.
According to the FHTZ chair, manifestations by high-profile comrades from Mashonaland West and Manicaland have indicated that burials should temporarily be halted until their own exhumations are prioritised.
“The issue is a very sensitive one,” Dr Makanda said.
“If we divulge everything now, it will be our own problem. This is a story that will only be told after a green light has been given by the comrades who are manifesting. They asked us to keep it under wraps, but it will be an earth-shattering event with the potential to become national.”
He said the manifesting fallen heroes had identified themselves as key figures in Zimbabwe’s liberation history, but did not provide a timeline for when the signal to proceed with their exhumations would be given.
The current developments unfold as FHTZ has declared 2026 a decisive year for large-scale exhumations and dignified reburials of liberation war combatants buried in mass graves both inside and outside Zimbabwe.
Dr Makanda recently revealed that the Trust has received fresh, credible intelligence pointing to undocumented mass graves, including sites beyond the country’s borders.
One such report indicates that at least 53 combatants are buried at a known shallow grave, with two comrades lying across the border in Zambia’s Shilo area.
Cross-border coordination and strict adherence to cultural and spiritual protocols have necessitated a cautious, phased approach.
The Sanyati and Hurungwe exhumations, whose remains now await reburial, marked a major milestone in FHTZ’s work last year and highlighted the vast number of unresolved burials from the liberation struggle.
Many fighters were hastily buried in mass graves following battles and aerial bombardments during the war.
The government must be warned not to mess with our fallen heroes. Today we have fully fed hypocrites in government who have selective amnesia when it comes to who died for this country and who sacrificed in order to have what they enjoy today. Why should such an emotional event be delayed by bureaucracy? $28 000 should not take long to be approved unless those responsible for the disbursement of the funds don’t take the process with the urgency it deserves. Government had totally ignored our fallen heroes preferring to concentrate on Gukurahundi issues that it envisages to carry huge political currency. It’s not fair to our heroes to be exhumed for decent burial, only to be kept in movies while some people twiddle their fingers and drink coffee in their offices.