NewsDay (Zimbabwe)

Ex-MP chides ED over hero conferment­s

- BY GARIKAI MAFIRAKURE­VA Follow Garikai on Twitter @garry4peac­e

FORMER Masvingo Central MP Jeffreyson Chitando (MDC) yesterday castigated President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administra­tion, alleging that it was running out of people who deserve to be conferred with hero status and as a result was granting the status to undeservin­g people.

Chitando said Mnangagwa’s administra­tion was belittling the country’s real freedom fighters by conferring liberation hero status to people that were born after the country attained independen­ce in 1980.

He said this in reference to the liberation hero status which was conferred on the late 38-year-old Mashonalan­d Central Zanu PF provincial youth leader, Lens “Ruwizhi” Farando, who died last week, and the national hero status conferred on the late Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimb­a.

Ruwizhi (38) and Gwaradzimb­a (60) succumbed to COVID-19 last week. Gwaradzimb­a will the buried at the National Heroes Acre on a date yet to be announced.

Chitando said the late minister’s obituary, which was continuous­ly aired by the national broadcaste­r ZBC-TV, was very misleading as it stated that she was born in 1960 and attended school in “Hippo Valley in Bikita”, before she fought in the liberation struggle in 1975 to 1976.

He said Gwaradzimb­a’s profile showed that she joined the liberation struggle at the tender age of 15, and that at 17 she was promoted to commander level in the provincial structure in 1977.

Chitando scoffed at the obituary, saying it had glaring errors in that whoever penned it showed that they did not know that Hippo Valley was not in Bikita, which makes people question its authentici­ty.

“The biggest problem is not about Zanu PF trying to rewrite history to suit its interests, but that Zanu PF is running out of true heroes and heroines. If the process of conferring hero status remains in the hands of a political party like Zanu PF, it means that we will see a lot of distortion of the liberation war history. They will continue to panel beat it to suit their evil interests,” Chitando said.

“Is Hippo Valley in Bikita? It’s a big no. The fact that the author of the obituary does not know that Hippo Valley is not in Bikita raises eyebrows. It means that people can only believe the rest of the story at their own peril. Since 2017, the new dispensati­on has reduced the selection of heroes and heroines to child’s play. Those deserving to be at the Heroes’ Acre were denied that status because of hatred and factionali­sm,” he said.

Chitando went on to question the claim that the late Gwaradzimb­a was promoted to commander at the age of 17 in 1977.

But Zanu PF party spokespers­on Simon Khaya Moyo said there were laid-down procedures that were followed in conferring one with a hero or heroine, adding that provinces made recommenda­tions before the President conferred hero status.

“There is no law that says those who were born after independen­ce should not be accorded hero statuses. These are just trivial issues that are being raised by idle minds. If someone has served his or her country distinctly, then he or she deserves to be accorded that status,” he said.

“It’s not distortion of history, but it is correctly chroniclin­g the events as they happened.”

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