Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Editor
VICE President Colonel (Retired) Kembo Mohadi has noted the need for Zambia and Zimbabwe to collaborate in preserving liberation struggle memorial sites.
This comes as the Vice President visited various sites from Mukushi Camp in the past five days, where ZIPRA girls lost their lives on the fateful day of October 19 1978, to Mulungushi Camp, where again several Zimbabweans lost their lives, the Freedom Camp, Nampundwe Camp, all of which played a critical role in Zimbabwe’s road to Uhuru.
As he wound up his visit, Vice President Mohadi said, collaboration between the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, as well as the National Heritage Conservation Commission of Zambia is key in preserving the story of Zimbabwe.
“I think there should be more coordination between the National Heritage in Zambia and our National Museum and Monuments back home. They need to make more visits and meet quite often, so that those shrines are kept up to date,” he said.
The two national entities are ready to collaborate under the agreed Memorandum of Understanding that already exists between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
“We have entered into an MOU with the National Heritage Commission of Zambia, and part of the deliverables within this MOU is for us to collectively identify, document, present and preserve the liberation heritage of Zimbabwe, which is within Zambia. What is key to that objective is to make sure that we are both adequately resourced to do so. I want to believe that the visit which we have undertaken has also identified areas which need to be dealt with, there are gaps, and we hope that with the necessary support from our principals, we shall be able to collectively, as an institution responsible for managing this heritage, to improve on it,” National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe’s regional director, Mr Lovemore Mandima said.
“We should speak, continue to remind the present generations, as well as the future generations of what really happened for Zambia to get independent. I am saying Zambia because we also went to Chilenje House National Monument, and this is a site where our first Republican President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, fought for Zambia’s independence. I got challenged as somebody who is still active in the preservation of heritage,” National Heritage Conservation Commission of Zambia’s acting executive director, Mr Kagosi Mwamulowe noted.
From Tanzania to Zambia, Angola and Mozambique, the role that the regional countries played towards Zimbabwe’s independence will forever be cherished.
