National Shrine is for revolutionaries

hero status.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on his sponsored message on Heroes Day, advocated for the “broadening” of the criteria of the conferment of heroes status to include artists, sportsmen, and so on.
Such perennial debates border on absolute ignorance of the concept of hero/heroine as we have understood it, and as originally conceived.
It is undisputable that there are heroes in every aspect of society, be it sport, philanthropy, academics, economics, and entertainment, among others.
However, this particular Heroes Day was set aside to remember the women and men who subordinated their personal interests to the collective interests of the country called Zimbabwe.
A national hero worth the name is best described by Dr Martin Luther King Jr who said that, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Our heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle accepted and endured pain, suffering and abominable cruelty with courage.
The Chimurenga Heroes were indeed born out of difficulties. These were the men and women of rare tenacity, who were involved in the seminal moment of our history which shapes the future of this country.
They continued to serve the country consistently and persistently after Independence.
Heroes’ Acre was constructed as a shrine to inter the men and women who fell in the struggle for the national liberation and the contemporary and future sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who cherish the revolutionary values. That is the fundamental entry requirement to these national shrines.
The demands from certain political circles to have “inclusive” input in the process of conferring hero status are misdirected. According to the National Heroes Act (Chapter 10:16) the designation of heroes is done by the President.
Says the Act: “Where the President considers that any deceased person who was a citizen of Zimbabwe has deserved well of his country on account of his outstanding, distinctive and distinguished service to Zimbabwe, he may by notice in the Gazette, designate such a person a national, provincial or district hero of Zimbabwe.”
President Mugabe is on record as saying that the Heroes Acre is for those who fought for this country.
He said something to this effect during the burial of Cde Ephraim Masawi: “This place is for freedom fighters . . . if we want those who are holy in their fields and profession like agriculture and other jobs, we will look for another hill and bury them there.”
These heroes passed on the baton stick to willing takers who continued with the revolution. It is unfortunate that some of the people who are demanding a place at the national shrine spurned the baton stick.
These people, instead, chose to work at cross purpose with the revolutionary principles.
They gang up with the country’s erstwhile enemies to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle. It is inconceivable to have such people lie beside Chairman Hebert Chitepo, Father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo and Commander Josiah Tongogara, among others.
Surely the Heroes Acre will lose relevance if people with opposing interests are buried at the same shrine.
Water and oil will never mix.
The heroes lying at the national shrine sacrificed their lives for the reclamation of our land and the economic emancipation of the people of Zimbabwe.
The living heroes have prized and fulfilled these objectives through the land reform and the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act.
The so-called heroes from the other political divide are completely against the land reform and the economic empowerment of the indigenous people.
Their political objectives border on the perpetuation of the imperialist hegemony.
This explains why their leader’s heroism is only recognised by foreigners like Julia Gillard, an Australian Premier, who recently stunned the world when she equated Morgan Tsvangirai to Nelson Mandela.
We say in Shona “Mambo haagadzwi nemutorwa”, meaning a king is not crowned by outsiders. Some divisive elements have been impishly making noise on the omission of some perceived heroes at the national shrine.
In a race, only those who reach the finishing line get the prize. The likes of Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema failed to reach the finishing line, thus they didn’t deserve any prize.
Others fall but they rise and continue with the revolutionary race. These people also deserve the prize.
Even the Biblical thief at the cross got the assurance of salvation in the nick of time.
This explains why Edgar Tekere got a prize.
The MDC “heroes” were never visible at any stage of the revolutionary race. Traditionally each clan has a unique resting place for its chief.
It’s taboo for a clan to bury its chief at the shrine of another clan. As the President rightly said, MDC should look for another hill to bury its own dubious heroes.