Families spruce up graves ahead of Heroes Day commemorations

FAMILIES of fallen heroes and heroines buried at the Bulawayo Provincial Heroes Acre in Nkulumane have begun sprucing up the graves of their departed loved ones ahead of the Heroes Day commemorations.

As of Monday, when two liberators, Cde Florence Mankosi Chirenda and Mangwende Mjaji Madonko, were laid to rest at the provincial shrine, a total of 1 122 liberation war icons had been buried at the revered site.

Individual families of the liberators have started sprucing up the graves by clearing grass around them after the good rains that were received in Bulawayo a few months ago, while some were erecting tombstones that are supplied by Government.

The National Museum and Monument of Zimbabwe are the custodians of the Bulawayo Provincial Heroes Acre.

The provincial shrine was established in the early 1990s and the first hero to be buried there was Cde Reader Ncube on December 23, 1993. The provincial heroes acre also has an interpretive centre with photographs and textual narratives by historians for easier interpretations for visitors, such as school children, who tour the site as part of their educational projects.

Bulawayo Senator, Cde Molly Mpofu, is leading a committee that is assisting families of departed heroes and heroines, who cannot afford to spruce the graves of their loved ones ahead of the Heroes Day commemorations early next month.

The team has so far spruced up 25 graves in the last two months and Senator Mpofu says more families are coming forward for assistance.

Families that can afford to erect tombstones on their relatives’ graves can do so after receiving the headstone from the Government.

“Families and friends of our fallen liberators meet every year on Heroes Day on 11 August to lay wreaths, mingle with senior Government leaders and fellow surviving cadres.

“This year, we want the occasion to include the families, who could not afford to erect tombstones on the graves of their loved ones,” said Senator Mpofu.

“We set up a committee to look for the relatives of some of the fallen heroes and heroines whose graves were not in a good state, to try and understand the challenges they were facing in erecting the tombstones.

“The tombstones are supplied by the Government, but some of the families face financial challenges just to erect the tombstones,” said Cde Mpofu.

“This is where we come in to buy cement, sand, gravel and hire builders to erect the tombstones.”

So far, 25 tombstones have been erected by the committee and more are coming from Government, said Cde Mpofu.

“The majority of families that we have assisted are children whose parents were a liberation war hero or a widow, who lost her husband and they can’t afford to erect a tombstone for their late relative,” she said.

Cde Mpofu said some of the graves that they have spruced up were older than 30 years.

“This week, we are erecting a tombstone on the grave of a liberator, who passed away in 2004 and his children indicated that they do have the money to do it.

“The tombstone was supplied by the Government several years ago, but has been in the storeroom here and could not be erected because of the family’s financial situation,” she said.

Plans by Senator Mpofu and her committee are afoot to build a perimeter wall at the heroes’ shrine and they are seeking donations of any kind.

“We aim to spruce up at least 50 graves before the Heroes Day holidays, so we need sand, cement and gravel to meet that target,” she said.

Mrs Smiso Mkandla, a Pumula resident who was visiting her late uncle’s grave, said she was amazed at the work that has been done to spruce up several graves.

“For the last five years, our family has been coming here to be part of the Heroes’ Day commemorations in Bulawayo and I have observed that a number of graves did not have tombstones, but they have now been spruced up,” said Mrs Mkandla.