News / Regional
Mugabe party supporters demand exhumation of Rhodes grave
18 Feb 2012 at 12:59hrs | Views
ZIPRA Veterans Trust chairman, Buster Magwizi said a group of Zanu-PF supporters and war veterans led by Monica Mguni-Sikhosana visited Cecil John Rhodes' grave in Matopos Hills this week demanding to exhume his remains and send them to Britain.
The bones of Cecil John Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, should be immediately exhumed and sent back to Britain as it is an affront to postcolonial sensibilities, according to a Zanu-PF politician.
Mguni-Sikhosana is the former Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial executive member and also wife to Zanu-PF's 60 year- old national youth chairman Absolom Sikhosana.
Speaking to Radio VOP on Thursday Magwizi said they received a call from Chief Masuku in Matopos on Thursday alerting that Mguni-Sikhosana and her group had visited him demanding to exhume Rhodes' grave and send his remains to Britain.
"We received a call from Chief Masuku notifying us that some Zanu-PF supporters and Zanla war veterans led by Mguni visited him, saying they wanted to exhume Rhodes's grave. We are shocked by the behaviour of these people, they should be arrested," said Magwizi.
Magwizi added: "We wonder where there are getting permission and guts to do that, because that is a respected and protected area".
Matopos Hills are within a government national park and Rhodes' grave is guarded by police 24 hours a day.
In 2010 Cain Mathema, the Zanu-PF governor of Bulawayo once blamed Rhodes' protected grave within the Malindidzimu Shrine (resting place of spirits) in Matopos Hills, for the lack of rain around Matabeleland region.
Mathema, the governor of Bulawayo, once said that the Victoria Falls should revert to its original name from the Tonga language, Mosi oa Tunya which means the "sound that thunders," and Christian explorer David Livingstone's statue overlooking the Falls should be replaced by one of President Robert Mugabe.
"Rhodes was deliberately buried at Matopos, it was not a coincidence," he said. "And I wonder why 30 years after independence his grave is still found on the country's traditional shrine of worship. It's an insult to our ancestors.
"All over the country you find schools named after colonialists, statues erected to celebrate colonialism. I am struck and baffled by the attitude of our people to continually embrace a bygone system that worked tirelessly to thwart their energy and aspirations," Mr Mathema told Bulawayo's Zanu PF controlled newspapers.
Rhodes, who was born in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, became one of Britain's most successful colonialists after being sent to southern Africa in the late nineteenth century when he suffered bad health as a teenager
Rhodes, a South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician was an ardent believer in British colonial imperialism; he was the founder of the state of Rhodesia which was named after him.
He died in Cape Town in 1902 at the age of (48) but wanted to be buried in the country named after him, Rhodesia. In 1980, Rhodesia, was granted independence by Britain and was renamed Zimbabwe.
The bones of Cecil John Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, should be immediately exhumed and sent back to Britain as it is an affront to postcolonial sensibilities, according to a Zanu-PF politician.
Mguni-Sikhosana is the former Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial executive member and also wife to Zanu-PF's 60 year- old national youth chairman Absolom Sikhosana.
Speaking to Radio VOP on Thursday Magwizi said they received a call from Chief Masuku in Matopos on Thursday alerting that Mguni-Sikhosana and her group had visited him demanding to exhume Rhodes' grave and send his remains to Britain.
"We received a call from Chief Masuku notifying us that some Zanu-PF supporters and Zanla war veterans led by Mguni visited him, saying they wanted to exhume Rhodes's grave. We are shocked by the behaviour of these people, they should be arrested," said Magwizi.
Magwizi added: "We wonder where there are getting permission and guts to do that, because that is a respected and protected area".
Matopos Hills are within a government national park and Rhodes' grave is guarded by police 24 hours a day.
Mathema, the governor of Bulawayo, once said that the Victoria Falls should revert to its original name from the Tonga language, Mosi oa Tunya which means the "sound that thunders," and Christian explorer David Livingstone's statue overlooking the Falls should be replaced by one of President Robert Mugabe.
"Rhodes was deliberately buried at Matopos, it was not a coincidence," he said. "And I wonder why 30 years after independence his grave is still found on the country's traditional shrine of worship. It's an insult to our ancestors.
"All over the country you find schools named after colonialists, statues erected to celebrate colonialism. I am struck and baffled by the attitude of our people to continually embrace a bygone system that worked tirelessly to thwart their energy and aspirations," Mr Mathema told Bulawayo's Zanu PF controlled newspapers.
Rhodes, who was born in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, became one of Britain's most successful colonialists after being sent to southern Africa in the late nineteenth century when he suffered bad health as a teenager
Rhodes, a South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician was an ardent believer in British colonial imperialism; he was the founder of the state of Rhodesia which was named after him.
He died in Cape Town in 1902 at the age of (48) but wanted to be buried in the country named after him, Rhodesia. In 1980, Rhodesia, was granted independence by Britain and was renamed Zimbabwe.
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