News / National
Mujuru fall-out continues
15 Nov 2014 at 16:56hrs | Views
HOME Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi castigated zanu-pf provincial chairman for Manicaland John Mvundura yesterday for recently inviting Vice President Joice Mujuru to officiate at the reburial of remains of fallen heroes without following proper protocol.
His actions led to the delay in the reburial of the 71 remains discovered at a mine shaft at Herbert Mine or Matumba Six and Haparari Village in Mutasa.
Speaking at the reburial of the remains yesterday, Mohadi said Mvundura should have followed proper channels if he wanted VP Mujuru to officiate at the reburial.
"The reburial of the fallen heroes is a Government programme not a party one," he said. "We should follow protocol when inviting leaders to grace national events like this.
"We need to respect our leadership and you cannot just write a letter inviting Amai Mujuru without following protocol."
After realising that Mvundura wrote to VP Mujuru without following protocol on October 27, the reburial was cancelled at the 11th hour.
Mvundura was supported by former war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda, who was expelled from the party on Thursday, and zanu-pf secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa, who went to the reburial site knowing fully well that the reburial had been cancelled.
The two then attacked Mohadi for suspending the burial, with Sibanda threatening to mobilise war veterans, youths and women to march to State House to meet President Mugabe.
Mvundura was on Thursday issued with a letter of reprimand by the zanu-pf Politburo for his various misdemeanours.
Mohadi called on leaders not to mislead war veterans and other party members. "If it is us leaders, Mai Mujuru and Mohadi, who are leading you astray as leaders, let us be cursed," he said.
"God should bring vengeance upon us and wipe us from the face of the earth because we are bad seeds."
Speaking at the same occasion yesterday, VP Mujuru called for the turning of shrines where fallen heroes were buried into sacred grounds that should be associated with the culture of hope and passionate patriotism.
She said the shrines were special landscapes onto which the painful history of the country's march to freedom was boldly written.
"How we relate and treat sites such as this one is determined by how we, as a people, connect the place to those values, aspirations and convictions that drove and propelled our liberation struggle," said VP Mujuru.
"We must turn this place, together with the many other similar places elsewhere in Zimbabwe and beyond into sacred ground, that, at all times, must be associated with our culture of hope and passionate patriotism. This was the impetus behind our armed liberation struggle."
VP Mujuru said the dumping into disused mine-shafts of the remains of the victims of Rhodesian atrocities and genocide was a calculated strategy that the Rhodesians used to hide from the eyes of the international community the senseless massacres that they conducted to instil fear in the civilian population.
"Recent research has also revealed that the other ways of concealing mass killings by the Rhodesian colonial system was the incineration of victims," she said. "Through incineration, the evidence that so many hundreds of Zimbabweans had been killed was simply reduced to ashes. The macro- burner that the Rhodesian government imported from apartheid South Africa in 1977 for use at Chikurubi Prison has the capacity to incinerate up to 30 or 40 bodies in one evening.
"In a few hours, therefore, victims of Rhodesian arrogance and genocide were reduced to nothing, most of these having been initially arrested, imprisoned and summarily sentenced to death for either their support or participation in the struggle for national freedom."
VP Mujuru said the Rhodesians did not want to create a huge cemetery for the people it was executing.
"It is for this reason that the prison cemetery at Chikurubi Prison remained small during a time prison executions reached an all time high," she said.
"At times that incinerator was malfunctioning largely due to using it beyond recommended capacity, the authorities then resorted to disposing the bodies through throwing the remains in deep mine shafts."
VP Mujuru said the 71 fallen heroes reburied at Herbert Mine were a small number of the thousands of Zimbabweans massacred by the Rhodesians.
The burial was attended by zanu-pf Politburo members among them Cdes Mutasa, Oppah Muchinguri, George Rutanhira and Munacho Mutezo.
His actions led to the delay in the reburial of the 71 remains discovered at a mine shaft at Herbert Mine or Matumba Six and Haparari Village in Mutasa.
Speaking at the reburial of the remains yesterday, Mohadi said Mvundura should have followed proper channels if he wanted VP Mujuru to officiate at the reburial.
"The reburial of the fallen heroes is a Government programme not a party one," he said. "We should follow protocol when inviting leaders to grace national events like this.
"We need to respect our leadership and you cannot just write a letter inviting Amai Mujuru without following protocol."
After realising that Mvundura wrote to VP Mujuru without following protocol on October 27, the reburial was cancelled at the 11th hour.
Mvundura was supported by former war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda, who was expelled from the party on Thursday, and zanu-pf secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa, who went to the reburial site knowing fully well that the reburial had been cancelled.
The two then attacked Mohadi for suspending the burial, with Sibanda threatening to mobilise war veterans, youths and women to march to State House to meet President Mugabe.
Mvundura was on Thursday issued with a letter of reprimand by the zanu-pf Politburo for his various misdemeanours.
Mohadi called on leaders not to mislead war veterans and other party members. "If it is us leaders, Mai Mujuru and Mohadi, who are leading you astray as leaders, let us be cursed," he said.
"God should bring vengeance upon us and wipe us from the face of the earth because we are bad seeds."
She said the shrines were special landscapes onto which the painful history of the country's march to freedom was boldly written.
"How we relate and treat sites such as this one is determined by how we, as a people, connect the place to those values, aspirations and convictions that drove and propelled our liberation struggle," said VP Mujuru.
"We must turn this place, together with the many other similar places elsewhere in Zimbabwe and beyond into sacred ground, that, at all times, must be associated with our culture of hope and passionate patriotism. This was the impetus behind our armed liberation struggle."
VP Mujuru said the dumping into disused mine-shafts of the remains of the victims of Rhodesian atrocities and genocide was a calculated strategy that the Rhodesians used to hide from the eyes of the international community the senseless massacres that they conducted to instil fear in the civilian population.
"Recent research has also revealed that the other ways of concealing mass killings by the Rhodesian colonial system was the incineration of victims," she said. "Through incineration, the evidence that so many hundreds of Zimbabweans had been killed was simply reduced to ashes. The macro- burner that the Rhodesian government imported from apartheid South Africa in 1977 for use at Chikurubi Prison has the capacity to incinerate up to 30 or 40 bodies in one evening.
"In a few hours, therefore, victims of Rhodesian arrogance and genocide were reduced to nothing, most of these having been initially arrested, imprisoned and summarily sentenced to death for either their support or participation in the struggle for national freedom."
VP Mujuru said the Rhodesians did not want to create a huge cemetery for the people it was executing.
"It is for this reason that the prison cemetery at Chikurubi Prison remained small during a time prison executions reached an all time high," she said.
"At times that incinerator was malfunctioning largely due to using it beyond recommended capacity, the authorities then resorted to disposing the bodies through throwing the remains in deep mine shafts."
VP Mujuru said the 71 fallen heroes reburied at Herbert Mine were a small number of the thousands of Zimbabweans massacred by the Rhodesians.
The burial was attended by zanu-pf Politburo members among them Cdes Mutasa, Oppah Muchinguri, George Rutanhira and Munacho Mutezo.
Source - chronicle
