BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
We will not be silent we will speak. Many service members lost their lives fighting for Zimbabwe Some were brought home to their families and laid to rest, others were buried on the foreign soil where they died and many went missing in action. However, these heroes are never forgotten.I can’t even imagine being killed in action and then being left there,I would want to come home – any way possible.
Bringing the remains of our heroes home is a which is a sacred one with a moral imperative.It’s the right thing for us to do considering the sacrifice they made for us.”
Zimbabwe must support those who sacrificed their lives to the fullest. This is an extremely important mission for everyone involved. It’s very fulfilling and very moving to be able to bring these folks home. It means the world to many Zimbabweans.
I personally attended a virtual meeting beginning of December chaired by the director of Museums in the UK Mr Jackson. My heart broke when we were clearly told that the remains of our heroes are in the UK and they are in the same Museum they put skeletons for animals and these bones are kept for research purposes.
This means the iconic heroes who made Zimbabwe what it is now have got their remains in the same glass with those of dogs and hyenas. The disrespect is mind boggling.
The fact that the remains and several artefacts are still in an animal museum. Our heroes where equated to dogs in their death. All what they are asking for is to be treated like humans and be buried according to our culture.
The remains returning to Zimbabwean soil is just the start of the identification process.
The end goal is to bring closure to the family. It’s an amazing experience and bring closure to the nation. The value of this ritual can not be over emphasised. Bringing home their remains affords these fallen heroes the chance to have the respectful burial and repatriation they earned.
It would be humbling and gratifying to know that 120 years later my country didn’t forget, and that they still made the effort to find me and bring me home, mbuya Nehanda would. “That’s just very humbling. We should be ashamed if we forget that the entire nation owed a profound debt of gratitude to those who have been killed or seriously injured – and those who have, thankfully, made it home from operations safely. We must praise the remarkable stoicism showed by bereaved service families, who have seen more than 1000 loved ones die during military operations during the year. Despite the temporal distance from the end of the First Chimurenga War marked by the 120th anniversary of defeat, the war remains ‘unfinished business’ in the region and in Zimbabwe’s domestic social and cultural sphere.
Repatriation involves a return to one’s own people. In the Zimbabwean context, repatriation involves returning Zimbabwean human heroes remains and cultural objects back to Zimbabwe or government centuries after their collection. Yet, the feeling that the right bones need to be in the right place is what drives the collection of the remains and their repatriation. Repatriating remains is a way to attempt the reordering of what was disordered during the war, and to finish, once and for all, the ‘unfinished business’ of the war.
The repatriation is important because they made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The mission that we do is a sacred mission with a moral imperative.
When it comes to Mbuya Nehanda Sekuru Kaguvi and many others we must pause to remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, the fallen warriors who never came home to their families and friends. Liberty is a precious gift whose benefits we all enjoy every day, but too often we give little thought to the price paid for it. The remains must be brought home for the same of the work done by our national heroes. We must reflect on the tremendous sacrifices made by our fellow countrymen and we must compare that sacrifice and the effort we have put in trying to have the heroes back home. For how long are these heroes to be kept with animals even in their death. Are we really independent or we are just dependent on those who are freely displaying a skull of a hyena next to the remains of our heroes.
Until Mbuya Nehanda is respectfully laid to rest we remain a nation and at war.
Our nation survived that bloody civil war, and went on to become a beacon of hope for millions of people around the world. But here we are not taking this serious.
While there are statements and news articles doing rounds that Mbuya Nehanda is coming home the efforts put to achieve this is a betrayal to the Nation at all. The nation has been lied to several times in 2019 we were told in two months Mbuya Nehanda will be home and three years later she still screams for her bones to be given the dignity they deserve.
How do we sleep at night knowing very well that our icons of Zimbabwean independence are paired with dogs and hyenas.
Maybe you can not hear her voice as it is drowned by the barking of the dogs.
We can not lie anymore to the nation. The British Director of museums said clearly they are not refusing with the bones. They are waiting and have been waiting for Zimbabwe to come.
We can not blame COVID. People are travelling now everywhere we need to take tjis more seriously. Bringing the bones of our heroes does not need one man to do it. The process must be given a high powered delegation. Dr Mahachi has not done his best yet. Maybe he needs help.
Many countries dedicate the whole government yo do so and Zimbabwe gives a mere department to carry such a task. It does not need a rocket scientist to see that we have been lied to. Dr Mahachi with due respect needs some one to help him. Some one very senior not his juniors.
Many countries have collected their remains. Why is Zimbabwe indifferent to this issue.
If the government thinks that they are too smart to put the full force on this issue then mandate the traditional leaders to do the job. If Charumbira can not do it let someone take over.
Diaspora has been asking for the mandate to do the work. We have been running up and down preparing the way. We even offered tickets for the delegates but its not being taken serious.
Eugine Majuru in England has been running around to have Mbuya Nehanda receive a proper burial but those in power treat like insane.
Bringing Mbuya Nehanda home is not for one person. How many times can we be told that some one is planning to plan the plan of a planned plan to plan the real plan of planning the meeting to plan the repatriation plan. Are we insane or what. This is not a joke it is a great insult to know that you icon is displayed in a museum as a trophy and and is displayed next to a skull of a dog and a hyena. So we have conscience. Why has it taken us this long.
Are we leaving pretty that we have forgotten where we came from. Who put is where we are. When service members take an oath to defend the soil and the sovereignty of Zimbabwe they do so knowing that they may be called upon to make great sacrifices to ensure and sustain our shared values. These patriots accept those risks and rush to fulfill the mission, no matter how harsh or dangerous the conditions. They embody the best of the Zimbabwean spirit. It is a shame that we are letting these people down. For how long shall we do this. It was never in their nature to seek out wars and conflicts. But whenever they have come, when adversaries have left them no alternative, Our heroes men and women have stood ready to take the risks and pay the ultimate price. Now they simply ask you to honour them by giving them a decent burial. We must be relentless in our mission to provide the fullest possible accounting to their families and the nation, until they’re home.
Only those who have seen the horrors of war firsthand can ever truly know what these soldiers,went through in their final moments.
Each of them knew what their duty was, but surely each of them also dreamed of going home to the people they loved and the life they cherished. Each of them had families waiting eagerly to see them again. We know that they were forced to leave their hopes and dreams behind when they went off to war. They parted with them forever when they died. In that breadth Mbuya Nehanda said. My bones will rise again and indeed they rose. She said take me back home where my people are and she is still saying it today.
President Ronald Reagan once said, “Most of those who died in defense of our country were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives – the one they were living, and the one they would have lived. They gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers…. They gave up everything for their country, for us. All we can do is remember.” Can you imagine what was given for your freedom yet you refuse to repatriate the bones of the heroes.
We will not be silent we will speak. Now we will shout the greatest enemy of Zimbabwe is ourselves. Bring Mbuya Nehanda home and First Chimurenga heroes home.
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