News / National
Mnangagwa renames Air Force base after Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo
01 Jun 2018 at 11:14hrs | Views
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has officially renamed Flyde Air Force Base between Kadoma and Chegutu to Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo Air Force Base in honour of the late revolutionary icon of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle.
For over 50 years, the airbase, just like many other army bases and barracks in the country, beared the name of a white pilot of the colonial Rhodesian Forces who was killed during the liberation struggle.
However since last year, the government saw it fit to honour heroes of the country's liberation war by renaming several barracks countrywide after them.
In December 2017, KG VI in Harare was renamed Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks, while the cantonment area which houses Zimbabwe National Defence University was also named Rodgers Alfred Nikita Mangena Barracks in Harare on 14 April 2018.
3 Infantry Brigade Headquarters in Mutare has also been named after the late national hero, Herbert Chitepo.
Speaking at today's commissioning ceremony, President Mnangagwa hailed the successful completion of this renaming exercise, describing it as a huge stride in replacing the colonial legacy with one with a meaning that reflects honour on the country's fallen heroes and heroines.
He said the renaming is a decolonisation process meant to exorcise the demon of colonialism.
Vice President Kembo Mohadi who worked with J.Z Moyo during the struggle for independence gave a biography of the late national hero who started his political career in the 1950s.
J.Z Moyo was born in 1927 near Plumtree on the border with Botswana and attended Mzingwane Government School after which he trained as a builder and carpenter.
He was initially a trade unionist in the 1950s and then participated in various capacities during the Second Chimurenga in nationalist parties such as ANC, NDP and ZAPU.
He was arrested on February 26, 1959 and detained for three months in Marondera and then joined ZAPU in 1961 after NDP was banned, and subsequently became ZANU Treasurer.
He then died in Zambia in 1977 in a parcel bomb explosion.
The renaming of the military institutions in Zimbabwe is in line with provisions in our Amendment (No 2, Act of 2013 and Section 23 (1) which exhorts the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level, to accord due respect, honour and recognition to veterans of the liberation struggle.
For over 50 years, the airbase, just like many other army bases and barracks in the country, beared the name of a white pilot of the colonial Rhodesian Forces who was killed during the liberation struggle.
However since last year, the government saw it fit to honour heroes of the country's liberation war by renaming several barracks countrywide after them.
In December 2017, KG VI in Harare was renamed Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks, while the cantonment area which houses Zimbabwe National Defence University was also named Rodgers Alfred Nikita Mangena Barracks in Harare on 14 April 2018.
3 Infantry Brigade Headquarters in Mutare has also been named after the late national hero, Herbert Chitepo.
Speaking at today's commissioning ceremony, President Mnangagwa hailed the successful completion of this renaming exercise, describing it as a huge stride in replacing the colonial legacy with one with a meaning that reflects honour on the country's fallen heroes and heroines.
He said the renaming is a decolonisation process meant to exorcise the demon of colonialism.
Vice President Kembo Mohadi who worked with J.Z Moyo during the struggle for independence gave a biography of the late national hero who started his political career in the 1950s.
J.Z Moyo was born in 1927 near Plumtree on the border with Botswana and attended Mzingwane Government School after which he trained as a builder and carpenter.
He was initially a trade unionist in the 1950s and then participated in various capacities during the Second Chimurenga in nationalist parties such as ANC, NDP and ZAPU.
He was arrested on February 26, 1959 and detained for three months in Marondera and then joined ZAPU in 1961 after NDP was banned, and subsequently became ZANU Treasurer.
He then died in Zambia in 1977 in a parcel bomb explosion.
The renaming of the military institutions in Zimbabwe is in line with provisions in our Amendment (No 2, Act of 2013 and Section 23 (1) which exhorts the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level, to accord due respect, honour and recognition to veterans of the liberation struggle.
Source - zbc
