News / Local
No heroes Acre for Zapu's Dumiso Dabengwa
14 Apr 2011 at 04:41hrs | Views
Zapu President Dumiso Dabengwa on Wednesday told Radio VOP that he will not be buried at the national Heroes Acre.
Dabengwa who was commenting on the hero's status conferred to President Robert Mugabe's top spy, Mernard Muzariri, who died in Harare this week, said his party had lost respect for the national shrine.
The former Home Affairs Minister, who broke away from Zanu (PF) to revive the opposition PF Zapu which went defunct at the signing of the unity accord 1987, said he disagreed with the criteria being used to confer national hero status on the country's outstanding citizens.
"We have lost respect for that place because the process of identifying heroes is being manipulated for political reasons," said the former ZIPRA intelligence supreme. "I have stated that I would want to be buried at my rural home in Ntabazinduna where my parents also lie."
Dabengwa, a former member of the Zanu (PF) politburo, said he personally knew little about the late Central Intelligence Officer (CIO) deputy director general but felt his conferment with the highesthonour in the land was also on partisan lines.
Muzariri, a war veteran, is being accused to have been involved in the killing of the majority ethnic Ndebele civilians when Mugabe dispatched his notorious North Korean trained fifth brigade to hunt down and kill armed supporters of the then opposition leader, the late Vice President, Joshua Nkomo.
Zanu (PF) has in the past made it clear that the national heroes acre is for party loyalists who participated in the liberation struggle that helped the country to attain independence from Britain in 1980.
Dabengwa who was commenting on the hero's status conferred to President Robert Mugabe's top spy, Mernard Muzariri, who died in Harare this week, said his party had lost respect for the national shrine.
The former Home Affairs Minister, who broke away from Zanu (PF) to revive the opposition PF Zapu which went defunct at the signing of the unity accord 1987, said he disagreed with the criteria being used to confer national hero status on the country's outstanding citizens.
"We have lost respect for that place because the process of identifying heroes is being manipulated for political reasons," said the former ZIPRA intelligence supreme. "I have stated that I would want to be buried at my rural home in Ntabazinduna where my parents also lie."
Dabengwa, a former member of the Zanu (PF) politburo, said he personally knew little about the late Central Intelligence Officer (CIO) deputy director general but felt his conferment with the highesthonour in the land was also on partisan lines.
Muzariri, a war veteran, is being accused to have been involved in the killing of the majority ethnic Ndebele civilians when Mugabe dispatched his notorious North Korean trained fifth brigade to hunt down and kill armed supporters of the then opposition leader, the late Vice President, Joshua Nkomo.
Zanu (PF) has in the past made it clear that the national heroes acre is for party loyalists who participated in the liberation struggle that helped the country to attain independence from Britain in 1980.
Source - Byo24News
