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The painful aspects of colonial history have been left intact through these plaques and monuments, hence the need to do away with some of them which offer no relevance to our present situation.
At the Bulawayo Main Post Office Leisure Garden, along Main Street, memorial plaques of Rhodesian war veterans are still regarded as an “awesome” sight. The inscriptions on the plaques are in memory of Rhodesian war heroes of the Second World War. One of the inscriptions reads: “In everlasting memory of Rhodesians of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps who fell in the war 1939-1945”.
Some pay tribute to the Rhodesian police reaction team responsible for suppressing insurgency within the black communities in Matabeleland, while others pay tribute to the entire former British South African Police, the Royal Air Force and many other Rhodesian heroes.
The inscription on the plaque, which is strategically placed at the centre of the garden, is dedicated to all “Dead Rhodesian Friends”.
The garden is a favourite meeting place for many people in the city because it is central. Barely a few metres away from the place is where the statue of the late Vice-President and liberation war icon, Cde Joshua Nkomo is to be erected.
Analysts in Bulawayo observe that the glorification of Rhodesian war history at public sites is further colonising young minds who grow up to see these inscribed “heroes” as the true soldiers in the history of war.
Instead, analysts argue, efforts should be made through the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe to put relevant statues and plaques of our own, true Ndebele warriors who fought the whites at the Battle of Shangani and others.
Along Main Street again, just across the road is a nightclub and cocktail bar whose appetite for Rhodesian military decorations is insatiable. Patrons in this bar can easily tell how many and what badge colour a Rhodesian Army Sergeant wore courtesy of the nicely framed and labelled badges draped on the mukwa walls.
The irony surrounding these places and other Rhodesian memorial sites dotted in the city is that they are well-maintained at the expense of some liberation and historical monuments in the city that are not receiving due attention because of neglect.
Major examples of some prominent shrines that lie almost derelict include the graves of King Mzilikazi, King Lobengula while that of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes and his lieutenants receive much attention and is kept in a clean state.
King Mzilikazi’s grave, some 26km from Bulawayo along the Old Gwanda Road, was derelict for some time. The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe later erected a gate to the cave where the king was buried. That was in late 2004 after the organisation bowed down to pressure from cultural groups that protested that the grave was getting desecrated.
King Mzilikazi died on 28 September in 1868; his remains were buried on a hill called Entumbane — a northern fringe of the Matopo Hills in November the same year after a series of ceremonies befitting his royal status.
Despite the fact that the grave has been fenced off, it has not received as much attention as Rhodes’ grave in the Matopo Hills. The king’s grave receives little attention as the family wrangles over who should be the custodian to the grave, as well as lack of adequate resources.
Ironically, Rhodes “prohibited” burial of people at the World View area atop the Matopo Hills “within a radius of two kilometres of his grave”.
Debate has also been raging in the country about the wisdom of keeping a legacy of colonialism in one of Zimbabwe’s important historical sites in the Matopo Hills.
Rhodes’ grave lies atop a sacred African traditional shrine on the hills. It is on a granite outcrop covered with a metal lid, well kept with trained guides ready to explain the history to visitors in stark contrast to King Mzilikazi’s grave.
Near Rhodes’ grave is that of his friend Leander Starr Jameson, Charles Coghlan and a memorial site in honour of white soldiers who perished at the hands of King Lobengula’s forces during the historic battle of Shangani in 1893.
University, college and school children have had countless trips to Rhodes’ grave; thousands of dollars have been spent glorifying a sad part of our history yet barely some two kilometres from the coloniser’s grave lies one of the greatest Ndebele kings, Mzilikazi.
Although there have been indications from the family that the grave should not be commercialised, analysts believe that sprucing up of the place and allowing educational visits would help guide many young people about the importance of our history.
In another stark contrast, the area around the grave has not been spared from veld fires that ravage Matopo National Park every year, yet the area around Rhodes’ grave is protected by fire guards and the rocks that encircle it.
Few are likely to visit the grave of King Mzilikazi. Not many know exactly where he was buried.
Concerns have also been raised over the state of King Lobengula’s grave which lies derelict, despite his prominence and contribution to modern day independence. King Lobengula was buried in a cave in the Lubimbi Valley in Matabeleland North. According to the National Museums and Monuments the burial place was discovered in 1943 and declared a national monument.
The position effectively dashes the century old tale that the Matabele king vanished. The tale, according to records, was meant to keep the location of the grave a secret because followers feared it would be raided by looters who believed that the king was buried with a lot of treasure.
From government circles, the cave has always been recognised as the king’s final resting place and was listed as number 48 on the list of close to 200 national monuments, making it one of the earliest discoveries.
The place has been kept a secret at the insistence of the royal family who felt the publicising of the place would encourage vandalism hence the semi-official policy of keeping quiet of its location.
However, unlike the grave of King Mzilikazi which is considered reasonably safe as it is located in the Matopo National Park, King Lobengula’s grave is in a communal area and is therefore more vulnerable to desecration.
Analysts believe that resources committed in keeping some of these colonial structures and monuments should also be extended to sprucing up our own monuments, and resources should be availed for research and preservation of these sites.
In December 2001, a group of incensed war veterans destroyed some metal plaques on David Livingstone’s statue in Victoria Falls. The statue wrongly proclaims the Scottish Missionary as the discoverer of the waterfalls.
The two metal plates inscribed with the history of how Livingstone “discovered the falls” were stripped off the statue. The war veterans had been angered by the inscription on the plates, which suggested that Livingstone was the first person to see the Mosi oa Tunya, the name given to the spectacular waterfalls by the Tonga people long before the Scotsman set foot on Africa. The ex-combatants also tried to pull down Livingstone’s gigantic metal statue but failed.
The irony is that the Tonga people living in the area knew the falls before Livingstone came, making it a mystery how he “discovered” the falls. Livingstone’s statue is inscribed: “Missionary, Explorer; Liberator.” Questions still linger as to who he liberated to deserve such a gigantic statue in one of the country’s natural wonders and tourist attractions.
The other monuments that have suffered degradation from both natural forces and neglect over the past years include the Khami Monuments, the second largest monument complex in Zimbabwe after the Great Zimbabwe in Masvingo. Others include Nalatale near Gweru, Zinjanja, Dhlodhlo Monuments and Bumbusi in the Hwange National Park.
Historians argue that part of this visual history should be respected and incorporated in educational modules and books.
However, generally because of our history of resistance to colonial and imperialist domination, visual history in Zimbabwe has remained revolutionary in character so that should be the case against the possibility of misleading the present and the future generation about their true past.
In Zimbabwe, much has been scored in the past and present looking at the National Heroes Acre where our “revolutionary celebrities” today peacefully rest, the museums and statues and socio-economic structures named after our Zimbabwean surviving and late heroes and internationalists who shared and share the same vision as that of Zimbabweans.
These national celebrities generate values of bravery, gallantry and Africanness characteristic of dedicated sons and daughters of the soil venerated for their acts of virtue as personalities, professionals and revolutionaries in their own right should be the ones decorating our buildings and plaques.
Online Reporter