Online Reporter
Gibson Mhaka
Zimpapers Politics Hub
IN a show of reverence and commitment to Zimbabwe’s liberation history, Vice President Kembo Mohadi recently embarked on a tour of liberation war sites in Tanzania, Zambia, Angola and Mozambique.
His mission was to assess the condition of the shrines and take corrective action to ensure the departed freedom fighters are accorded decent resting places.
The tours are in line with the Second Republic’s broader efforts to preserve the legacy of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle by restoring and maintaining sites of national historical importance, both within and beyond the country’s borders.
His visits revealed that the unmarked graves of freedom fighters deserve equal honour.
The tours are part of an intensified Government drive to document, rehabilitate, and promote liberation heritage sites as well as reinforcing its “leaving no one and no place behind” philosophy. This mantra, often applied to domestic development, is being extended to the nation’s historical heritage.
It demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that the legacy of the struggle, including the contributions of all who participated both at home and abroad, is recognised and honoured.
During the 16-year struggle for liberation, the Rhodesian regime launched air and ground strikes against Zimbabwe’s liberation forces.
As a result, guerrilla training and refugee camps in neighbouring countries were ruthlessly bombed, and many of the thousands killed in these attacks were buried in mass graves.
In Zambia VP Mohadi visited five shrines to pay homage to the Zimbabwean liberation war fighters who were brutally killed by Rhodesian Security Forces.
He toured Nampundwe, Mulungushi, St. Mary’s Cemetery, and Mkushi shrines, where thousands of freedom fighters were killed.
Some Zambian police officers and military personnel were also killed while trying to rescue nationalists who came under Rhodesian attacks.
In Angola VP Mohadi visited the Boma Mass Grave in Luena, Moxico province, where over 300 ZIPRA fighters were buried following the February 26, 1979 bombings. He also met with traditional leaders and locals in the area.
In Tanzania, VP Mohandi toured the Bagamoyo Training Camp, which was later transformed into the Kaole Wazazi College of Agriculture, as well as the Liberation Museum Centre.
Tanzania played a pivotal role in supporting regional liberation movements by providing military training facilities in locations such as Mgagao, Morogoro, Bagamoyo, Kongwa and Nachingwea, among others.
In Mozambique, where the Vice President had his last visit, there are about 17 shrines of deceased cadres from the liberation war. At sites like Chimoio, Nyadzonia, Tembwe, Nyangao (Beira), and Tongogara Memorial Site and Changara, mass graves have been constructed.
However, at other shrines, including Madulu, Mapai, Barrage, Chibavava, Navonde, Espungabeira and Save, the remains of those who were either killed or died of illnesses are still lying in unmarked graves.
VP Mohadi noted that many of these shrines are in a state of neglect, lacking basic amenities such as ablution facilities, water sources, good road networks, rolls of honour, and secure fencing.
In an interview on the side-lines of the tour at Chimoio Shrine, VP Mohadi said: “There are a lot of less important things that we can sacrifice resources in order for this initiative to be undertaken. For example, the responsible Ministry, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage can make use of the money collected from gambling to ensure that boreholes, ablution facilities and other amenities are in place in these shrines.”
He expressed his belief that the nation needs to do more to honour these heroes.
“The question from some of us who lived through this war is, are we doing enough? The answer in many circumstances is that we are not. We surely need to do more.”
To that end, he pledged that soon, all basic amenities will be put in place at these shrines so that they can be transformed into tourism products.
“For example, Mutare will be hosting the annual Zanu PF conference and a lot of people will be flocking this place (Chimoio Shrine) because it is near and perhaps the biggest of them all. However, many people would be ready to visit all the other shrines only if proper facilities were in place and the shrines are adequately marketed to young Zimbabweans to appreciate their history.”
VP Mohadi’s visits show that the protracted nature of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle meant that the fight for freedom was not confined to our borders.
He emphasised that the story of Zimbabwe’s liberation war must be continuously told to all citizens, especially the youth, to ensure the sacrifices made are never forgotten.
“The story of the liberation war must be told now and again to all Zimbabweans. It must be talked about in all social spaces regularly so that our young ones can understand what we mean when we say this country’s liberation war was nourished by human blood. This is what we mean.
“If this had happened in Europe it would be an everyday song. Look at how the Holocaust, the German attack on Jews. Up to this day they are still talking about it like it happened yesterday.
“This is how we should make our own war for independence a crucial story. Let us not be brainwashed into thinking that this is not important,” said Vice President Mohadi.
Thousands of young men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice on foreign soil, in training camps and refugee settlements that became sites of brutal attacks by the Rhodesian regime.
For decades, the graves of these heroes have lain neglected, far from the country they fought to liberate.
Rehabilitating and preserving the shrines reaffirms Zimbabwe’s commitment to its history demonstrating that lives lost in the struggle will never be forgotten.
