Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
A museum and a community archive are set to be established at the Chitepo homestead in Mutasa, Manicaland Province, as the government works on the preservation of the legacy of national hero, Cde Herbert Chitepo and heroine, Cde Victoria Chitepo.
49 years ago, on 18 March 1975, ZANU’s First National Chairperson and Zimbabwe’s first black barrister, Cde Herbert Chitepo, breathed his last after a bomb was placed in his car in Lusaka, Zambia.
To preserve the rich national history of Cde Hebert Chitepo and his wife Cde Victoria Chitepo, the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and the National Archives of Zimbabwe have started processes to establish a museum and a community archive at the Chitepo homestead in Bonda, Mutasa district.
“We are here at Hebert Chitepo to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chitepo Trust. The MOU seeks to preserve the legacies of Cde Victoria Chitepo and Cde Hebert Chitepo who are our national liberation war hero and heroine. The family is interested in turning the house into a museum, and our assessment has shown that there is a lot of material, furniture, utensils and books that can be used to display in the museum,” said the Eastern Region Director for the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Dr Paul Mupira.
Acting Director for Public Archives and Library at the National Archives of Zimbabwe, Mr Kudakwashe Tonhodzai, weighed in, “We are here to ensure we establish a community archive. The Chitepo family has a lot of records that are now archival in nature and a lot of books that are also of national significance, so as a department, we are here to ensure all the resources that they have are well preserved. We also have a team that will conduct oral interviews to augment all the records that we are going to collect and preserve here.”
The Chitepo family and the Hebert Chitepo Trust local organising committee have a great vision to honour not only their icons but also the national hero and heroine whose contributions to the liberation struggle were outstanding.
“We run activities here to perpetuate the legacy of Hebert and Victoria Chitepo. We felt that, as a community, we should do something to promote his ideas and principles,s, especially those related to selflessness, freedom, unity, humility and independence. We requested that this place be turned into a museum to portray the liberation history,” said
Hebert Chitepo Trust Local Organising Committee Chairperson, Mr Caston Chitsidzo.
“The initiative seeks to create a record of Cde Hebert Chitepo. The intention is to make a museum that will also carry the history of other freedom fighters. The late Victoria Chitepo made a commitment in her will to establish a vocational training centre for young people and these initiatives seek to honour the national hero and heroine’s legacies,” highlighted Hebert Chitepo’s daughter, Dr Thokozile Chitepo.
Cde Hebert Chitepo was born in Mutasa District on 15 June 1923.
While doing his studies in South Africa, he met Victoria Mahamba-Sithole, a South African whom he married in 1955.
In Zambia, Cde Chitepo became the chairperson of ZANU’s War Council or Dare ReChimurenga and, together with ZANLA, Commander General Josiah Tongogara, Cde Chitepo organised and planned successful military guerrilla attacks and underground activities in the then Rhodesia from 1966 onwards.
Six years later, he established a strong rapport with Frelimo in Mozambique and coordinated operations that opened up the northeastern region of Zimbabwe as a new and effective war front.
Cde Hebert Chitepo, who died in Zambia, was reburied at the National Heroes Acre in August 1981, while his wife, Cde Victoria Chitep o, was laid to rest at the national shrine in April 2016 when she passed on.
