Zimbabwe govt must set a remembrance day for the Matabele and Shona rebellion of 1896-1897

It would be a noble idea to honour those who fought in the Matabele and Shona rebellion in 1896-1897.The rebellions in question are correctly known as  'Umvukela WaMaNdebele' (in lsiNdebele)  or 'First Chimurenga' (in Shona language). This  important day must be put in our national calendar, so that we all observe it. That day must be a day of remembrance and also a day of celebrating the courage of our people for fighting for their self determination. The aforementioned war was fought against the British South African Company (imperialists). As a nation and their descendants, we are all  indebted to our forefathers whose blood was shed for a worthy cause .

We therefore urge our chiefs to petition for this to happen as soon as possible .The chiefs are the custodians of our traditions (cultural norms and values) And we ask our government to honour our heroes and heroines upon the submission of that petition.

Alternatively the government can do that without any petition from our chiefs. In other countries such an event is celebrated. It could be more ideal if that day is the 17th of April and on the 18th of April we continue with the usual celebrations of our independence day.

libertyatliberty at gmail dot com