Honour bestowed on Dr Muzenda in order

THE late Vice-President Simon Muzenda was one of the luminaries of the liberation struggle. Born in ZvaVaHera Village in Gutu, Masvingo, in 1922, Cde Muzenda was an unassuming man, whose simplicity belied his high political standing. He started his political activism in the 1950s in the Mvuma area of the Midlands Province and was arrested and jailed a number of times. In one of the cases, Cde Muzenda was arrested for reciting a revolutionary poem,

a popular ode of that time. Dr Mzee occupied various positions in the first nationalistic political parties in the 1950s into the 1960s among them the Voice Association, National Democratic Party, Zapu and later Zanu. During the liberation struggle, around 1975, he fled the country settling in Zambia and later in Mozambique. His wife, Maud and their children joined him in Mozambique where they suffered a personal tragedy in the Chimoio Massacre of 1977. One of their daughters, Theresa Muchapedzei, died in the Rhodesian bombing of the camp.

He was very close to President Mugabe and at independence in 1980, Cde Muzenda became the country’s first Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

For seven years, he served in the positions and when the Unity Accord was signed on December 22, 1987, he became Vice-President, a position he held until his death on September 20, 2003. It was because of his immense contribution in the struggle for independence and in post-independence Zimbabwe that he was affectionately known as the Soul of the Nation.

He, indeed, is one of the founding fathers of this country who deserves to be honoured all the time. We are happy with what the ruling party, Zanu-PF and the Government, are doing to that end.

An interment at the National Heroes’ Acre in Harare was a foregone conclusion for Cde Muzenda for that hallowed burial ground is meant for icons like him. In 2001, two years before his death, his home town, Masvingo granted him the freedom of the city. Four years later, the Government posthumously conferred Cde Muzenda with the Order of the Great Zimbabwe (Gold) for distinguishing himself in service to the liberation of the country and its general post-independence socioeconomic development. His colleague, Cde Joshua Nkomo, was bestowed the same honour posthumously.

Last year, one of Harare’s busiest streets, Fourth Street, was renamed Simon Vengai Muzenda Street.

Great Zimbabwe University has the Simon Muzenda School of Culture And Heritage Studies in recognition of his promotion of traditional culture. He was passionate about sports and played a leading role in putting in place the Gutu Half-Marathon that was run in his home area. There was much concern that this sporting event would die with him, but his family and the local athletics body have worked hard to keep it going. They have renamed it the Simon Muzenda Marathon in Gutu.

Just last week, Zanu-PF took the opportunity of holding its national conference in the ancient city to commission the Dr Muzenda Heritage Site at the luminary’s first home in Masvingo. President Mugabe officially opened the home on Friday. It is interesting that the ruling party last convened a conference in Masvingo three months after his death and paid particular tribute to him. On its return to Masvingo, the ruling party commissioned the home in his honour. We find that very instructive.

The home was already emblematic for the residents of Masvingo even before the $200 000 facelift and its commissioning as a heritage site by the President. Basically everyone in Masvingo knows KwaVaMuzenda, a section in Mucheke suburb.

It has potential to become an important tourist site in Masvingo, which already had the Great Zimbabwe Monument, Lake Mutirikwi and further south in the south-east lowveld, the Gonarezhou National Park.

Visitors to the Dr Muzenda Heritage Site would be able to see some of his previously unseen pictures, his first vehicle a blue VW minibus and probably his first bed a single bed with a base of chains. What visitors will see at KwaVaMuzenda is an attraction, yes, but the greater attraction at the two huts is the feeling that comes with visiting a place that was home to such a hero.

Zanu-PF and President Mugabe must be hailed for honouring Cde Muzenda, a nationalist who not only served his party, but also the entire country. We are unsure if there is a street in Masvingo that was named after him. If it is not there, we urge authorities to find one. There have been calls for a statue to be erected at a strategic point in the city. We agree with those calling for this honour and propose it be erected in the grounds of the Masvingo Civic Centre. It will be equally prudent to rename the Masvingo Airport, Simon Muzenda Airport.