Whatever the reasons for Robert Mugabe’s refusal unto death to be buried at Heroes’ Acre, it
remains a poignant irony that it was he who, almost single-handedly, denied both Ndabaningi
Sithole and James Chikerema the honour they eminently and obviously deserve.
However, the decision last week by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, again almost single-
handedly, to reverse his predecessor’s folly does not in any way redeem or restore the
inherent esteem and honour that underpin the status of hero/heroine and indeed Heroes’ Acre
itself.
That is quite apart from the question of why and how these two obvious heroes of
Zimbabwe’s nationalist struggle for independence were so ignominiously dumped by their
erstwhile comrades, including Robert Mugabe and Mnangagwa himself as member of the
Zanu PF politburo.
Not to mention the observation, by a fellow student of Zimbabwe’s liberation history, that
Mnangagwa is so lacking “in the depth of perception to make (independently) the
intervention in official history”, that the jury is still out there as to the identity of the people
around him that drove him to attempt to right the wrongs of the narrative around heroes and
Heroes’ Acre.
So errant and even sordid had that narrative become by the time that Ndabaningi Sithole
(2000) and James Chikerema (2008) died that one is compelled to quote the latter here from
the article (published alongside this) by Trevor Grundy, that “veteran Zimbabwe nationalist
Robert James Chikerema told friends that the last place on earth he wanted as a final resting
place was the North Korean-built Heroes’ Acre in Harare.”
Said Chikerema: “I’ve told my sons that if they ever try and take my body to that place they
are to open fire. I’ve given them guns… “They must open fire and stop me being buried next
to those crooks and sycophants who destroyed Zimbabwe.”
Equally ironic, or is it déjà vu, that Mugabe himself, the man who almost singlehandedly
defined the concept of a “Zimbabwe hero” and decided that many like Chikerema and Sithole
did not qualify, should have insisted unto death that he, too, should never be buried at the
“shrine”.
It’s a similar tale with respect to almost all of those founding nationalists with whom Mugabe
languished in detention.
Maurice Nyagumbo, who died a bitter man on April 20,1989 had also pleaded with those
close to him that he should not be buried at Heroes’ Acre.
The circumstances (suicide) surrounding his death were simultaneously an expression of
bitterness at the betrayal by Mugabe in particular and the feeling that his sacrifices for the
nationalist struggle — including 27 years of (political) detention under the settler colonial
regime — had been in vain.He was buried at the place, nonetheless.
Likewise, Edgar Tekere, who died on June 7, 2011, and whose case in this regard I am
familiar with.
He, too, vowed against burial at the Heroes’ Acre, for the reasons similar to those stated by
Chikerema but also in bitterness at the betrayal by Zanu PF and Mugabe personally.
It was largely due to the pressure from comrades and war veterans who remembered him as
their former secretary-general that the family reluctantly conceded to the burial at the
“shrine”.
But, as I recall, even this decision was touch and go, with everyone concerned in the
corridors of power in Zanu PF waiting for a go-ahead from Robert Mugabe, himself.
Conveniently or otherwise, Mugabe was out of the country, leaving Didymus Mutasa,
Tekere’s uncle and one whose efforts in this regard were tireless during the two days of
vacillation and procrastination, to consult fellow Politburo members on the question of hero
status.
Reports were that Mugabe was obviously opposed for reasons similar to those used in the
case of Chikerema and hoped that Mutasa’s consultations would confirm that position.
But, in the Big Man’s absence, the comrades of the politburo “rebelled”; and, to his credit,
Mnangagwa was one of those whose voice was critical in the logical decision to acknowledge
and honour Tekere.
Last, but not least in this narrative, my old man, Enos Nkala, who died on 21 August 2013.
Like Tekere, he had told me several times of his revulsion to the Heroes’ Acre and,
reportedly in 2010, instructed his family to ensure that his remains would not be interred at
that place.
However, according to the same family members, Nkala changed his mind in 2012, making it
easier for Mugabe, who had now reconciled with his former fellow detainee and minister of
government, to do the obvious.
Yes, it is ahistorical nonsense, full of dubious political motives, that Sithole and Chikerema
have been so belatedly and even unceremoniously acknowledged and declared national
heroes by Mnangagwa.
When, where and how was this surprising decision made? Which organs of Zanu PF
(politburo) or the state (Cabinet) were consulted as part of the process?
Where is the founding document — and the principles that underpin it — for national hero
status? Such a document, and national as opposed to party, should be the basis for a
systematic revisitation of the many heroes and heroines — and not just those confined to
Zimbabwe’s history, but ALL who will have made their contribution to the history and
development of Zimbabwe across all spheres of society — who have been denied of such
status.Until Zimbabwe restores and publishes a national comprehensive policy on the issue of
national heroes/heroines, we will not have begun as a nation to exorcise this terrible beauty,
our history
