Online Reporter
Herald Reporter
Friends of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle (FOVLS), an affiliate of the ruling party ZANU PF, has received corporate support for its patriotic work of sprucing up heroes’ acres across the country.
Fumati Engineers and Geo Pomona Waste Management joined FOVLS’ clean-up campaign at Harare Provincial Heroes Acre on Wednesday, where they provided the necessary equipment.
Fumati went on to donate grass cutting equipment that will become property of FOVLS for future use, and food towards the fully subscribed clean-up exercise with Geo Pomona Waste Management weighing in with cleaning material.
War Veterans League chairperson for Harare Province, Cde John Guta, who was part of the clean-up campaign on Wednesday acknowledged the support and pledged to continue pushing for more support towards the work of FOVLS.
“This is an emotional moment for me,” he said. “I never dreamt that we will have young people in this generation who still value the selfless contribution of our heroes, especially by joining hands to honour their memory and pulling resources together for that cause.
“We will continue advocating for more support towards the work of FOVLS at national level. I want to thanks Friends of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle for championing this work and also thank all the corporate partners led by Fumati Engineers and Geo Pomona Waste management for heeding the call. Like the President always says: nyika inovakwa nevene vayo, ilizwe lakhowa ngabanikazi balo.”
FOVLS started operations in 2022 and has since carried out clean up campaigns as well as rehabilitating 52 graves of liberation war heroes at the Harare Provincial Heroes Acre.
Speaking to in an interview FOVLS spokesperson, Cde Takemore Mazuruse, said they were humbled by the corporate support and endorsement seeing that their work required the support of all progressive Zimbabweans.
“We have been doing this work of cleaning and landscaping the resting places of our liberation war heroes as well as rehabilitating some of the graves which are not in a good state for the past four years and we are happy that some corporate partners are joining us in this noble work,” he said.
“Our liberators both leaving and departed did their part and its now our turn to carry on the baton by continuously reminding the nation about the great work they did and honouring their sacrifices.
“The clean-up exercises we undertake are both symbolic and educational so that the current generation remains informed about our important history and foundations as a nation.”
Cde Mazuruse thanked Fumati Engineers and Geo Pomona Waste Management for their support.
“We are grateful for the gesture from progressive corporate partners like Fumati Engineers and Geo Pomona Waste Management, who made sure that the most recent clean-up at the Harare Provincial Heroes Acre was a huge success,” he said.
Fumati Engineers chief executive, Mr Tinashe Changweya, said they felt duty bound to support the work of FOVLS, especially given the important sacrifices by the heroes which led to the independence and economic freedom of Zimbabwe.
“We are proud to support the work of Friends of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle because its founded on the liberations principles which gave birth to the independence and economic freedom that we enjoy,” he said.
“I am only 31, but I am able to run a company that is contributing to Vision 2030 through infrastructure development and I felt the need to join FOVLS in honouring our heroes,” he said.
“If it wasn’t for their sacrifices we wouldn’t be running these companies and enjoying all this freedom.”
FOVLS founder and chairman, Cde William Charuka saluted all the players, including the War Veterans League, the Ministry of War Veterans Affairs, City of Harare, Environment Management Agency (EMA), National Museums and Monuments as well as the Office of the Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution, who made the clean-up exercise a success.
He highlighted that the FOVLS vision dovetailed with President Mnangagwa’s monthly national clean up call.
“When the President made the clean-up call scheduled for every first Friday of the month, we took up the challenge to play our part making sure no one and no place is left behind and as FOVLS we chose our liberation war heroes’ resting places,” said Cde Charuka.
The goal is to clean, restore and carry out maintenance work at the shrines to ensure the memorial sites are preserved well.
