Graves of slain liberation fighters identified in Harare, exhumation looms

Columbus Mabika Herald Reporter

The Department of War Veterans Affairs in the Ministry of Defence yesterday held a preliminary exercise for the exhumation of veterans of the liberation struggle who were executed by Ian Smith’s colonial regime at Chikurubi and Harare Central prisons during the war between 1970 and 1977.

Yesterday’s exercise entailed the identification of graves of the deceased and involved families of the deceased at the prison cemeteries, while the actual exhumation will be done on a date to be advised soon.

The event was graced by a team of exhumers, provincial leaderships of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, families of the deceased and representatives from the Department of Museums and Monuments.

The exercise also saw the delegation visiting the gallows at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison where thousands of freedom fighters were executed through hanging and the Macro Burn Incinerator where the fighters burnt in searing heat from electric elements.

Department of War Veterans Affairs (head inter-ministerial investigation team) Colonel Ezekiel Shumba said the exercise would give closure to families, whose loved ones experienced extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions at the hands of the brutal Rhodesian regime during the liberation struggle.

“Despite the long post-independence history of exhumations, we are making strides in the exhumation and reburials of liberation war victims. This is, therefore, an important task for us, as the successful drafting and implementation of the xxhumation policy gave families and relatives of the deceased the right to recover the remains of their loved ones so that they can conduct customary funeral rites, mourn the dead and heal emotionally,” he said.

He said the task also resonated well with the concept of the national peace and reconciliation.

The exercise, Colonel Shumba said, also aimed to prescribe standards for the exhumation and identification of the victims buried in mass graves and return remains to their next of kin where possible.

He said ceremonies befitting their sacrifices and cultural beliefs would be conducted.

Fortune Muroiwa (48) of Mutare who discovered his father’s grave who was executed in 1977 said the exercise was a welcome development for the families of the deceased freedom fighters.

“Some families are undergoing unexplained strife that maybe caused by the quest of these fallen comrades to be properly laid to rest or to be united with their families. This is a foot in the right direction towards better lives for these families.”

The Government has stepped up efforts to exhume the remains of freedom fighters which are improperly buried in various sites throughout the country and in neighbouring countries.

The exhumations aim to honour the utmost sacrifice made by the fallen veterans of the liberation struggle who fought the colonial regime

Government is also processing requests from families of some national heroes to exhume and rebury their bodies at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

Some national heroes who died were buried at their homesteads after they were accorded national hero status.