Zambian police praise ZRP resilience

defending their country against its enemies.
Addressing 240 ZRP officers and recruits last Friday during a tour of shrines of Zimbabwean freedom fighters killed during the liberation struggle in Zambia, Assistant Commissioner Alfred Nawa said the visit had been instructive.
“You should continue to be brave for your nation,” he said.
The officers visited St Mary’s Cemetery where 14 Zambian police officers were killed by Rhodesian Forces while trying to rescue Zimbabwean freedom fighters were buried.
Nineteen Zambian soldiers were also killed during the raid.
More than 1 000 women and girls were shot and killed by the Rhodesian Forces in the raid on Mkushi Girls Camp on October 19 1978.
One of the survivors among the Zambian police who confronted the Rhodesians, Assistant Superintendent Ignatius Katambi, said: “Initially our task was to take the injured to the nearest clinic and the dead to the mortuary but we found ourselves being ambushed and shot at.”
He said he and eight Zimbabwean women escaped and walked in 8km of bush before boarding a bus to Kabwe.
The ZRP’s Supt Smart Chabodoka thanked his Zambian colleagues for the support they offered Zimbabwe before and after independence.
“The liberation struggle did not only affect Zimbabwe but Zambians also as shown here,” he said.
Head of delegation, Senior Assistant Commissioner Grace Ndebele said they would return with more recruits for a tour of the shrines later this year.
Earlier in the tour, Defence attaché at Zimbabwe’s Embassy in Lusaka, Retired Lieutenant-Colonel Cornwell Jiyane, said Zambia spent US$10 billion to reconstruct infrastructure in the early 1980s after it was destroyed by the Smith Regime during the Second Chimurenga.
He said Zambia had paid a huge price for supporting Zimbabwe’s independence struggle and also played a critical role in assisting liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa.
“Zambia lost US$10 billion during the liberation struggle and its people died for these countries to obtain their independence” he said.
Rtd Lt-Col Jiyane was addressing 240 Zimbabwe Republic Police officers and recruits at Freedom Camp last Wednesday. He said hundreds of fighters were buried in 23 known mass graves in Zambia.
Zanla and Zipra combatants operated from Zambia and Mozambique during the liberation struggle.
The officers left Zambia on Saturday afternoon and arrived in the country early Sunday morning.