Need for holistic approach on heroes

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said this week the late nationalists Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema will henceforth be considered as national heroes for their role in the liberation struggle as Zimbabwe corrects errors of the past.

The duo fell foul due to the struggles within the struggle in Zimbabwe’s rocky road to independence from colonial rule.

Zanu founding leader Sithole died in 2000 and was buried in Chipinge. Chikerema died in 1996 and was denied hero’s status.

The narrative in unofficial circles was that they had differed, exposing the follies of allowing an individual to determine the status of a hero or heroine.

Even if they had differed were the leaders not copying from the colonial masters that suppressed any opposing view?

Be that as it may, the declaration of hero’s status on Sithole and Chikerema is laudable as it removes the distortions and mistruths that surround the liberation struggle in which a liberator today will turn into a sell-out tomorrow when he or she has an alternative view.

The list of those that were snubbed is long and includes Thenjiwe Lesabe, Wilfred Mhanda (Dzinashe Machingura), Michael Mawema and former Dare ReChimurenga secretary of administration Mukudzei Mudzi.

The declaration of national hero’s status has been subject of debate for over the years when those that deserved such a status were snubbed raising questions on the criteria used to select national heroes and heroines.

Critics say the task should not be the preserve of the governing party, Zanu PF.

In a paper, An analysis of the National Heroes Conferment in Zimbabwe, music critic Benjamin Nyandoro proposed the establishment of an autonomous body with all stakeholders’ representation that is governed by a set of well-defined principles and procedural guidelines.

Another option is for Parliament to accord national hero and heroine status. He proposed proportional representation of all political parties in a conferring temporary body only set up to confer in the event of a death.

The fourth option Nyandoro proposed is the maintenance of the status quo in which the Zanu PF politburo decides who is a hero or not. This last option has been in existence since independence and is attributable to the snubbing of the National Heroes Acre by some cadres.

The National Heroes Acre has lost its lustre after some declared that they don’t want to be buried there.

Edgar Tekere had declared that he did not want to be buried there but his remains are interred there as a “dead man has no choice”, according to the late former President Robert Mugabe. Ironically, Mugabe also declared that he did not want to be buried at the national shrine. He was buried in Zvimba.

Dumiso Dabengwa and Welshman Mabhena also told their families that they did not want to be buried at the National Heroes Acre, a wish which was respected.

Gone are the days when hero’s status is conferred on loyalists whose rise to fame is toeing the party line, bootlick the leadership of the party or are more vocal in attacking the opposition political parties as Western puppets or sell-outs.

We need to debunk the thinking that the governing party would permanently enjoy the unilateral right to declare heroes.

The process of identifying heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle should start now.

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