Online Reporter
Farirai Machivenyika-Senior Reporter
Mozambique’s Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Margarida Adamugy Talapa, has commended Zimbabwe for taking the lead in preserving its own liberation history and that of Africa as a whole.
Ms Talapa made the remarks after touring the National Heroes Acre and the Museum of African Liberation yesterday.
She is in the country on a four-day official visit and has met her Zimbabwean counterpart, Advocate Jacob Mudenda.
During the tour of the Heroes Acre, Ms Talapa laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honour of the departed heroes.
“We paid tribute to the heroes at the Heroes Acre, heroes who are not only of the past, but also heroes of today and the future,” she said.
“We visited the graves where the remains of the heroes who fought for Zimbabwe are buried, those heroes who contributed to the development of Zimbabwe. It was a very important moment. We think it is a powerful example that Zimbabwe is setting, and one that we need to follow.”
Ms Talapa described the museum as an important institution that reflects the continent’s history.
“To have a space here where we can tell our history is a very good thing. We visited the museum and saw the space allocated to Mozambique, and we need to make this a very important place to pay homage to our heroes.
“This is a place that reflects the history of African countries from SADC and across the continent. We believe that we should all contribute to the telling of our history. We need to value this space because it is where the history of every country is being told,” she said.
The Mozambican Speaker said it was unacceptable for Africa’s history to be told by foreigners.
“Most of the time, our history is told by people who did not live through it. But here we have a space where we can tell our stories from our own perspective and explain the tools we used to liberate our countries.
“The artefacts that we used in our liberation struggles should be preserved, bearing in mind that there are those who continue to work every day to reconstruct our history. Every people and every country should contribute actively to telling its story,” she said.
She added that Mozambique would participate actively to ensure its history was properly documented through the museum. “We want to thank the Government of Zimbabwe for this initiative and for providing a space for us to tell African history.
“It is a history that should be lived, understood and valued, particularly by those who did not experience the realities we went through during the struggle for liberation,” she said.
Ms Talapa said the most important task now was to teach future generations about the continent’s past so that its history was not erased.
“Our history should be told by all of us, and our children, as well as our grandchildren, should learn from it,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ms Talapa said the Memorandum of Understanding she signed on Monday with Advocate Mudenda was intended to strengthen ties between the two legislative bodies.
“The main objective of signing this memorandum is to strengthen the ties between our parliaments, particularly in our role as legislative institutions,” she said.
