Dzapasi Assembly Point declared national monument
THE Minister of Rural Development Preservation and Promotion of National Culture and Heritage, Cde Abednico Ncube on the recommendation of the Board of Trustees of National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe has declared Dzapasi Assembly Point in Buhera District as a national monument.
The gazette contained in Government Statutory Instrument 1 of 2017 was made on January 13, 2017. Dzapasi was the largest assembly point for guerrillas established in the country during the ceasefire in 1979.
At the dawn of Independence in 1979 several assembly points were established throughout Zimbabwe to accommodate freedom fighters returning from neighbouring countries where they were taking up arms against the oppressive Ian Smith regime.
The assembly points had been agreed on as part of the Lancaster House Agreement and were huge camps where thousands of freedom fighters were congregated. The freedom fighters were to stay in the assembly points during the 1980 election period and until demobilisation or integration into the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
Some of the prominent assembly points established during that period were Manyene in Chivhu, Dendera in Mutoko, Echo in Nyanga, Chipinda Pool in Chiredzi, Gwaai River in Matabeleland North and Seira in Mutoko.
Of all the assembly points established, Dzapasi turned out to be the biggest in terms of the number of returning comrades who assembled at the base. The nucleus of the assembly point was at Chiurwi Primary School which had been closed since July 1976 as the war of liberation intensified. With an abandoned school, an airstrip and a good road network, Dzapasi was an ideal location for an assembly point. During the liberation war, the Rhodesian forces had built the gravel airstrip to serve their base at Dzapasi, then known as Fox Trot, a counter insurgency base within the Rhodesian Forces’ Operation Thrasher Front. For this reason, Dzapasi area experienced a number of fierce battles between freedom fighters and Rhodesian forces during the armed struggle for Independence.It was here (at Dzapasi) that the then ZANLA Commander, Cde Rex Nhongo, later known as Solomon Mujuru and the Rhodesian Army Commander, Bertie Barnard ceremoniously shook hands as the British flag was lowered and the Zimbabwean flag being hoisted in February 1980 to signal the beginning of a new dispensation in Zimbabwe’s politics.
This was one of the first ceremonies heralding the birth of an independent Zimbabwe and signalling the death of Rhodesian military machinery. Thus, the military supremacy of Ian Smith’s army was formally and finally relinquished at Dzapasi.
It was on the strength of this historical value that the Minister of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of National Culture and Heritage, Cde Abednico Ncube, on the recommendation of National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe decided to declare Dzapasi a National Monument. Dzapasi joins other liberation war heritage places to be proclaimed national monuments after independence such as the national and provincial heroes’ acres and Chinhoyi Battle Site.
Although Chiurwi Primary School is now operational, there are still features around it that depict the presence of the freedom fighters more than three decades after the place had been abandoned.
National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe Regional Director for Eastern Region, Dr Paul Mupira, said they would engage various stakeholders in order to develop a comprehensive site management plan to proactively manage, preserve and present the site to the public.
“During this year’s Matendera Festival slotted for some time in October, there are plans to have a Dzapasi Marathon to kick start a series of events and activities to popularise this new addition to Zimbabwe’s National Heritage,” said Dr Mupira.