Opinion / Columnist
Dr Dabengwa an undisputed war of liberation hero
24 May 2019 at 14:31hrs | Views
Although Dr Dabengwa's (as rumoured) wish was not to be buried at the heroes acre, the heroes acre would be angry as he is an undisputed liberation hero who deserves 1000% to be buried there.
If he gets buried there, the history of the liberation struggle will be complete as he is part of the jig-saw puzzle for it. Without him there, there will be a missing section of the war of liberation puzzle.
The ZANU PF politiburo needs to override or derogate some of the clauses in their document which disqualify former liberation fighters from being buried at the heroes acre just because they were no longer with the ruling party.
That clause needs to be removed in order to allow all deserving war heroes to be buried in their rightful place.
Even Mugabe must be buried there because he was involved. The purpose must be that all who fought in the war of liberation should be buried there without considering their current political affiliation.What must be considered is the period before independence not post-independence period.
The war of liberation ended in 1979 and during that time Dr Dabengwa never betrayed the cause of the struggle.
After independence there was no more struggle for liberation.Needless to mention that in modern world everyone is entitled to belong to a political party of their choice.
So,the fact that he was no longer with the ruling unity party is insignificant or immaterial in determining his heroes status.
He is an undisputed hero and deserves to be buried there. It is true that Mugabe did wrong by unleashing the Gukurahundi against some innocent citizens of Zimbabwe,but we should give it a thought when it comes to the issue of the essence of the heroes acre. It must not be about a tainted post-war liberation patriotism or behaviour, but rather about the participation in the war. And during that time that person remained patriotic to the cause of the struggle.
Please do not misconstrue my debate on this issue to mean that Mugabe was justified for the Gukurahundi massacres .
My reasoning is based on the roles played by those who participated in the war of liberation and they did not betray the cause of the struggle during that period.
So, in my view, heroes status must not be determined using post war of independence behaviour. If that was the case, then Dr Tsvangirai must have been buried there, for he too according to his followers, he is a hero. For example, he joined hands with the ruling party when Zimbabwe was in a critical economic condition(became Prime Minister)So, in my view, the focus must be on the war of liberation period only.
Njabulo.libertyatliberty at gmail dot com.
If he gets buried there, the history of the liberation struggle will be complete as he is part of the jig-saw puzzle for it. Without him there, there will be a missing section of the war of liberation puzzle.
The ZANU PF politiburo needs to override or derogate some of the clauses in their document which disqualify former liberation fighters from being buried at the heroes acre just because they were no longer with the ruling party.
That clause needs to be removed in order to allow all deserving war heroes to be buried in their rightful place.
Even Mugabe must be buried there because he was involved. The purpose must be that all who fought in the war of liberation should be buried there without considering their current political affiliation.What must be considered is the period before independence not post-independence period.
The war of liberation ended in 1979 and during that time Dr Dabengwa never betrayed the cause of the struggle.
After independence there was no more struggle for liberation.Needless to mention that in modern world everyone is entitled to belong to a political party of their choice.
So,the fact that he was no longer with the ruling unity party is insignificant or immaterial in determining his heroes status.
He is an undisputed hero and deserves to be buried there. It is true that Mugabe did wrong by unleashing the Gukurahundi against some innocent citizens of Zimbabwe,but we should give it a thought when it comes to the issue of the essence of the heroes acre. It must not be about a tainted post-war liberation patriotism or behaviour, but rather about the participation in the war. And during that time that person remained patriotic to the cause of the struggle.
Please do not misconstrue my debate on this issue to mean that Mugabe was justified for the Gukurahundi massacres .
My reasoning is based on the roles played by those who participated in the war of liberation and they did not betray the cause of the struggle during that period.
So, in my view, heroes status must not be determined using post war of independence behaviour. If that was the case, then Dr Tsvangirai must have been buried there, for he too according to his followers, he is a hero. For example, he joined hands with the ruling party when Zimbabwe was in a critical economic condition(became Prime Minister)So, in my view, the focus must be on the war of liberation period only.
Njabulo.libertyatliberty at gmail dot com.
Source - Njabulo
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
