President to unveil tower

Nyore Madzianike Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe is expected to officially unveil the Dedication Tower, a recently declared national monument at Morris Depot in Harare, next Thursday.

The Dedication Tower replaces the Blatherwick monument that was erected by the British South African Company (BSAC) in 1921.

Speaking during an inspection in readiness for unveiling, Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage Minister Abednico Ncube said the tower stands as a motivational tool to the police in safeguarding the country’s heritage and hard-won independence.

Minister Ncube declared the Dedication Tower ready for official unveiling. “For a long time we have kept and maintained monuments that celebrated our colonial heritage. “A heritage that has very painful memories of our dispossession as a people. “A heritage that has told our story through the enemy’s eyes.

“My ministry, through the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, has embarked on a programme to build a true history of our nation so as to reflect the African values of most our monuments,” he said.

Minister Ncube said monuments which were listed before independence had a bias towards colonialism, which created a distorted history of Zimbabwe.

He said his ministry was mandated to correct the anomaly by listing monuments that celebrate indigenous achievements. “This monument replaces the Blatherwick monument that was erected in honour of a white man’s efforts to suppress African rights and dignity.

“He did it under the British South African Company, which followed the Pioneer Column in 1890 as the de facto responsible authority to complete our colonisation.

“Captain Blatherwick was one such person whose repressive efforts were honoured at Morris Depot with a memorial tower on his death in 1921.

“After thorough research, it was then decided that the imperialistic relic be removed and a Dedication Tower symbolising Zimbabwean freedom from oppression be raised in its place,” he said.

Minister Ncube said that his ministry, through the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, was sprucing up the Chimoio Liberation Museum in Mozambique.

He also said a similar museum will be built at Freedom Camp in Zambia. The inspection was attended by National Museums and Monuments executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi and Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri.