Govt should make fund available for war victims bones collection along Save River- senator

Mashonaland Central Senator Monica Mavhunga has asked the government of Zimbabwe to avail funds for the collection of human remains of suspected liberation war fighters who were swept away by the Save River during the war.

 Mavhunga said they were talking about shrines which were bombed for example, Nyadzonya, Chimoio and Freedom Camp indicating that there was a need for the government to take care of them.

"As we are debating, we should also look at places where our heroes used to stay. At Tembwe, there are also graves. Some people died because of hunger, gun shots and diseases. It is our plea that when we look at graves that have been built already, we think that all those heroes that are still outside should be repatriated as well," she said. "For example Tembwe Base 2, that is where my husband was. He was a commander. After the base was bombed, they went and picked people and threw the bodies in drains because they were decomposed. I think we should think of those areas as well so that we should go and exhume."

"I know of an area where there were 200 people and 25 were swept by Save River. I think if we go there, we can pick some bones from those river banks," she added.

She said government should put funds together so that all those areas can be revisited and the bones be picked.

"It should be government's burden – like what one of the Hon. Members said before me that when the spirits of the dead come out on the living, Government should take it upon and assist in the exhumation and burials," she said.

"I think the responsible Ministry should be funded so that they look into the issue and not only renovating the graves. We know that there are people who are still thinking that their children were sent to Yugoslavia or North Korea because there is nothing that is showing that their children died during the war. It is good as Government to notify people in the villages so that they know exactly what happened."

Mavhunga said those who went to join the struggle are known.

"Where I come from, they used to do pre-checks and all the information was kept. The information was not only kept at the camps but it was sent to towns where there were offices for safe keeping," she said. "A census should be done so that the headmen will be asked about the people who died in the struggle and not for them to be given money but just to acknowledge that some comrades did not come back from war. I think it will bring to rest even the dead and those who were left behind. That is what should happen so that the spirits of the departed will rest in peace."