Joshua Nkomo's holiday calls grow louder

The late Vice President Joshua Nkomo's family believes the best way to honour the legendary nationalist is to declare July 1, the day he died 16 years ago a national holiday.

Nkomo died on July 1, 1999 and was declared a national hero. He was buried at the National Heroes' Acre in Harare.

Nkomo's son, Sibangilizwe, once vowed to unilaterally declare July 1 as Joshua Nkomo and Liberators' Day.

Yesterday, his daughter Thandiwe Nkomo-Ebrahim told the Southern Eye at the Joshua Nkomo Museum in Bulawayo that Father Zimbabwe, as Nkomo was popularly known, was not being properly honoured.

Bulawayo International Airport was renamed after him and a statue was erected in the second city in his honour but the family feels more could still be done.