News / Local
Group declares 1 July a public holiday in honour of Dr Joshua Nkomo
16 May 2013 at 18:09hrs | Views
Matojeni Cultural Society "Isifiso Sikazulu" has openly declared the 1st of July, without government's consent, a public holiday in honour of Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo who died on July 1 1999.
The society propose to name the holiday "Joshua Nkomo and Liberators' Day".
This comes after non response to written requests to relevant authorities to consider making the day a public holiday.
Matojeni Cultural Society was officially formed on January 2 in 2012 with the core objective of encouraging people to revert to their traditional and cultural ways of life as Africans, particularly as Zimbabwean.
Last year, The chairman for the Joshua Nkomo Commemorations committee, Albert Nyoni, wrote a letter to government seeking that Main Street be named after the late national hero and another letter to the co-Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi seeking that 1 July be declared a public holiday in the Matabeleland region but he did not get any response from the government.
Matojeni Culture Society in collaboration with Joshua Nkomo National Foundation, formed a Joshua Nkomo Commemorations committee in 2012.
The committee organised culture-driven commemorations for the life and death of Nkomo separate from the usual government-organised galas for the late legend.
Nyoni, who is also chairing Matojeni Cultural Society, said the organised culture-driven commemorations are meant to portray and uphold the life and legacy of "Our Icon Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo".
Last year the Matojeni Cultural Society called on government to speed up the erection of the late vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo's statue in Bulawayo and the renaming of the city's Main Street after him.
Members of the cultural group put portraits of the late nationalist at the pillar meant for the installation of the statue as a way of advertising the Joshua Nkomo memorial celebrations which took place at the historic Stanley Square.
The group also rejected North Korean made statue rekindled bad memories of what happened in Midlands and Matabeleland region when the Korean trained Fifth Brigade army unleashed the Gukurahundi massacres in the early 1980s.
The society propose to name the holiday "Joshua Nkomo and Liberators' Day".
This comes after non response to written requests to relevant authorities to consider making the day a public holiday.
Matojeni Cultural Society was officially formed on January 2 in 2012 with the core objective of encouraging people to revert to their traditional and cultural ways of life as Africans, particularly as Zimbabwean.
Last year, The chairman for the Joshua Nkomo Commemorations committee, Albert Nyoni, wrote a letter to government seeking that Main Street be named after the late national hero and another letter to the co-Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi seeking that 1 July be declared a public holiday in the Matabeleland region but he did not get any response from the government.
Matojeni Culture Society in collaboration with Joshua Nkomo National Foundation, formed a Joshua Nkomo Commemorations committee in 2012.
Nyoni, who is also chairing Matojeni Cultural Society, said the organised culture-driven commemorations are meant to portray and uphold the life and legacy of "Our Icon Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo".
Last year the Matojeni Cultural Society called on government to speed up the erection of the late vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo's statue in Bulawayo and the renaming of the city's Main Street after him.
Members of the cultural group put portraits of the late nationalist at the pillar meant for the installation of the statue as a way of advertising the Joshua Nkomo memorial celebrations which took place at the historic Stanley Square.
The group also rejected North Korean made statue rekindled bad memories of what happened in Midlands and Matabeleland region when the Korean trained Fifth Brigade army unleashed the Gukurahundi massacres in the early 1980s.
Source - Byo24News
