adminGeorge Maponga Masvingo Bureau
The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe has started upgrading Kamungoma Liberation War Shrine in Gutu in memory of 104 innocent villagers and one freedom fighter massacred by Rhodesian forces during an attack at the height of the country’s war of liberation.
Upgrading of the Kamungoma Site is part of the ongoing enshrinement programme being spearheaded by Government through the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry to preserve the country’s liberation history and also promote domestic tourism.
The Kamungoma massacre, which occurred on May 14, 1978 after Rhodesian forces launched a surprise attack during a night vigil (pungwe), is regarded as one of the most gruesome acts of cold-blooded butchering of innocent civilians by the Ian Smith regime.
NMMZ Masvingo regional director Mr Lovemore Mandima yesterday said work on upgrading Kamungoma Liberation Shrine was part of the key projects earmarked under Government’s Rapid Results Initiative.
Mr Mandima said upgrading of the site was expected to be complete by end of October this year.
“We have already completed the first phase of Kamungoma site upgrade and we are moving on with our work, which we expect to complete over the next 100 days,” he said.
“‘The next task will be to consult the political and traditional leadership together with survivors of the massacre so that the information they provide help us to create an interpretive centre where the complete history about what happened on the day of the massacre is told.”
The NMMZ director said the Kamungoma massacre site core area, which straddles approximately 7 hectares will also be mapped to prepare for fencing.
“We need to identify all the graves of the 104 villagers who were killed on the day (minus one guerilla whose remains were collected by relatives for reburial) so that we properly mark them in a befitting way,” he said.
Mr Mandima said work will also be undertaken on the signage to the site for visitors to easily access it either from Mpandawana Town to the northwest or Nyika Growth Point to the south- east.
He said the ongoing enshrinement of Kamungoma will help future generations to fully understand their history, particularly the atrocities committed by the hideous Rhodesian government in a bid to stop the growing wave for political independence in the then Rhodesia.
Several sites across Masvingo and the nation at large, particularly those with liberation war historical significance have been enshrined or are in the process of undergoing the exercise.
Work will soon start on enshrining Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp near Sango Border Post in Chikombedzi into a national monument while work on kwaVaMuzenda Heritage Site in Masvingo City has already been completed
The heritage site was set up in Masvingo’s oldest suburb of Mucheke where the late veteran nationalist and Vice President Dr Simon Muzenda used to live during the formative years of Zimbabwean nationalism in the late 1950s.
Plans to build a shrine at Masvingo Railway Station, in honour of the heroic bombing of a Rhodesian steam locomotive by President-elect Mnangagwa in 1964, are also at an advanced stage.
Online Reporter