Online Reporter
Africa Moyo in Lusaka, Zambia
VICE-President Kembo Mohadi arrived here yesterday where he will visit five shrines to assess their state, as part of the Second Republic’s broader efforts to preserve the legacy of the country’s liberation struggle by restoring and maintaining sites of national historical importance, within and outside Zimbabwe.
VP Mohadi arrived at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport shortly before 1pm and was received by Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Reverend Paul Damasane, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Zambia Charity Charamba and other senior Government officials.
He is accompanied by Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Omphile Marupi and Institute of African Knowledge (Instak) chief executive officer Ambassador Kwame Muzawazi.
The visit to Zambia to assess the status of shrines comes after his successful visit to Angola last week, where he visited shrines such as the Boma Mass Grave in Luena, Moxico province, where over 300 ZPRA fighters were buried after the February 26, 1979 brutal bombings.
In Angola, VP Mohadi also met traditional leaders and locals in Luena.
According to his Zambian itinerary, the VP is today expected to visit the former house of the late nationalist and Zanu chairman Cde Herbert Chitepo and the house in which Zambia’s founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda lived in Chilenje, Lusaka.
He is also expected to visit the Nampundwe shrine and Freedom Camp.
In an interview upon arrival, VP Mohadi said: “Well, I think you will recall that last week, I was in Angola and I was visiting our shrines, where quite a number of our comrades perished and we are doing the same here.
“We will be visiting quite a number of sites here, I think five of them, where our cadres or freedom fighters perished.
“The reason why I am coming here is that we want to see the state of the shrines themselves.”
Most of the shrines in Zambia are such as Nampundwe, Mkushi, Freedom Camp, Mulungushi, Kavalamanja, which is near the Kanyemba Border Post, are already built up but lack vital facilities such as ablutions, access roads and potable water.
VP Mohadi said he brought with him officials from the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe to see how best the shrines can be improved, while Ambassador Muzawazi of Instak, is keen to know what really transpired 47 years or so ago.
Instak is a Pan-African organisation collaborating with the Government on the Museum of African Liberation project, which aims to be a multi-country facility showcasing Africa’s diverse liberation history and preserving the continent’s cultural heritage.
One of the places that VP Mohadi will visit today, the Chilenje House 394, is a museum house in which Zambia’s founding President, the late Dr Kenneth Kaunda, lived from January 1960 to December 1962.
Freedom Camp was the main camp for ZPRA in Zambia and was responsible for the general administration of Zapu.
It also acted as a transit camp for various groups to other camps.
Also known as Westland Farm, Freedom Camp is located on the outskirts of Lusaka about 20km on the northern side of the city.
It was attacked on October 19, 1978 at about 8am, killing over 400 freedom fighters.
The Nampundwe Liberation War Shrine is located 32km on the western side of Lusaka, within Mtondo Farm, which is privately owned.
It acted as a reception or transit camp for all ZPRA cadres who were joining the struggle and from there, the recruits would be forwarded to relevant camps mainly depending on their sex.
VP Mohadi, who is head of the Social Services Cluster under which the preservation of shrines falls, is also expected to visit the Mulungushi Camp situated about 50km north-east of Kabwe, Mkushi Girls Camp which is about 126km east of Kabwe and the St Mary’s Cemetery in Kabwe town.
The St Mary’s Cemetery is where 14 of the 15 Zambian police officers ambushed and killed by Rhodesian forces in November 1978 while rescuing the girls that had been attacked by air and ground raids at Mkushi.
The other one was buried in his home area. Two of the 45 surviving police office are still are alive, namely Mr Alex Ostern Shimambo, 72 and Mr Ignatius Katemba, 69.
VP Mohadi’s visit comes as the Government has intensified efforts to document, rehabilitate and promote liberation heritage sites under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), NDS2 and Vision 2030 of an empowered upper-middle-income society.
