Foxtrot/Dzapasi Assembly Point: Forgotten national monument
“The biggest Assembly Point at ceasefire for the brave and selfless liberation fighters who subordinated their individual lives to the collective interest of Zimbabwe leading to the attainment of independence on the 18th of April 1980” — National Museums and Monuments.
THE above is the inscription on the mini-billboard at Dzapasi Assembly Point in Buhera. When the Lancaster House ceasefire document was signed, it was imperative to put in place and motion modalities to execute the same.
One such critical imperative was to assemble all liberation war fighters in designated areas across the country, and Dzapasi became one such designated point.
It became home to more than 5 000 fighters and the biggest Assembly Point in the country under the command of Cde Tonderai Nyika (the late Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, may his dear soul rest in peace and power).
In 2017, the National Museums and Monuments designated Dzapasi a national monument. They erected a mini-billboard to that effect, some galvanised sheet siting on two wooden uprights.
That is all there is to Dzapasi National Monument, its significance to the birth of our independence notwithstanding.
I have a dream: Where Dzapasi assumes her rightful place and space as a significant Assembly Point that was home to more than 5 000 soldiers and war collaborators.
Out of respect for the role it played, I have a dream where it shall have a military museum, chalets, district hospital, boarding secondary school and all other ancillary services that facilitate the provision of a seamless delivery of services befitting such a place.
It shall be a tourist attraction of note, gated and protected, packaged together with Matendera National Monument, Ruti Dam, Kagumbudzi and the balancing rocks of Marabada Hills, stretching from Mafuruse to Muzokomba areas.
Because of its centrality, Dzapasi shall carry the hopes of many should the dream of a district hospital crystallise into reality.
It shall decongest the Roman Catholic run Murambinda Mission Hospital.
I have a dream of a nurses training facility being set up at the envisioned Dzapasi Hospital.
As a Government, and with the servant leadership and forward-focused approach and pragmatism inherent in the stewardship and attitude of the President Mnangagwa, the dream is possible and doable in our term and time.
We Shall Overcome
As we live in this fast-paced environment replete with volatilities, uncertainties, complexities and ambiguities, there is serious need for agile leaders who will react and respond to the issues of our time with the urgency and speed of the moment.
We shall overcome because the ministries of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Defence, War Veterans and Home Affairs, as well as the local key stakeholders are keen on the dream and project.
We shall overcome because the zeal and willingness to actualise the dream is palpable across all stakeholders.
We shall overcome because we are convicted to the vast benefits that will accrue to the local economy and beyond. With the local buy-in that is huge, in the full knowledge that we are the masters of our own destiny, obligated and duty-bound to cause the upward mobility of our local areas, we shall overcome on account of that realisation and conviction.
Operation Restore Hope Hope to overcome and have a great future as both a people and district.
Our baseline as a district is very weak, but very strong.
We are weak because we have not been able to address fundamental questions with respect to where we are, where we want to go, how we get there, which is the best way to get there, and how we will ensure safe arrival in our quest to restore the hopes and aspirations of all and sundry in the constituency and district.
We are strong because we can locate local capacity to do a key stakeholder mapping, do a strategy document culminating in some Dzapasi Conference of Parties (DCOP).
It is at that conference that we shall be able to extract the true meaning, potential and value that is laying dormant in such a critical resource and asset by way of a sound baseline report.
Restore Hope for a great future anchored on the full participation of key stakeholders and primary involvement of the locals so that they take ownership of both the processes and the outcomes.
They must lay claim to both the inputs and outputs, and there-in lies the sustainability of the project and dream.
Restore hope for both domestic and international tourism around the key local tourism assets, with Dzapasi as the key and anchor attraction.
Other than Dzapasi, Matendera national monument was built in and on the same mould as Great Zimbabwe.
However, it needs some restoration and protection first before it is marketed to target tourist markets. There are several other monuments dotted around the district, for example Kagumbudzi, Muchuchu, etc which need restoration and packaging.
True and amazing balancing rocks are not found in Epworth alone. Buhera Central constituency is home to amazing balancing rocks across Marabada Hills.
Restore hope on account of de-colonising the mind and re-orienting and re-wiring it towards appreciating where we came from, our history, and the sacrifices that our forebears made, risking limp and life for the greater good.
They were convicted to the realisation that every wilderness gives birth to greatness.
As we seek the opinion of history, we should remain plugged to it for wise counsel and strategic direction, leaving no one and no place behind.