Government is erecting a memorial statue for Zimbabwe’s
First Chimurenga war icon, Mbuya Nehanda, in Harare in honour of her heroic
rebellion against colonialism in which she paid the ultimate price by being
hanged.
She was hanged on April 27, 1902. The memorial statue is
being erected at the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere
Way.
Despite limited resources, Mbuya Nehanda led the black
resistance and fought the whites with spears, bows, arrows and guns while the
enemy used the gun.
When the rebellion failed she was among the last of the
leaders to be captured. Together with another leader of the rebellion, the
medium of Kaguvi, she was sentenced to death and hanged by the British but her
heroic role has made her the idol of modern day Zimbabwean revolutionaries.
Work on the statue in Harare started last month.
As a result of the work, Harare City Council has since
announced the temporary closure of portions of Samora Machel between Leopold
Takawira Street and First Street and Julius Nyerere Way between Sam Nunjoma
Street and Kwame Nkurumah Avenue.
The project commenced on June 25 and is projected to have
been completed by August 28.
City of Harare said the closure of the roads is “to allow
for the upgrading of the intersection and construction of a monument”.
The local authority said there will be alternative routes
which will be recommended by use of informative signs.
“It is most important to note that during this period,
Leopold Takawira Street will be two-way up to Nelson Mandela Avenue from Samora
Machel Avenue and a section of Kwame Nkrumah Avenue between First Street and
Julius Nyerere Way will be one– way for traffic due west,” said the council in
a statement.
The local authority also warned that traffic approaching
these roads should do so with due care.
However, highly placed sources at the National Museums and
Monuments yesterday told The Herald that the erection of the monument was a
Government project, but the National Museums and Monuments is at the forefront.
“Works currently underway at Samora Machel Avenue and
Julius Nyerere Way Intersection is meant for the construction of a memorial
statue for Mbuya Nehanda.
“The project is being run by the Office of the President
and Cabinet, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Ministry, department of Public
Works, National Archives of Zimbabwe and National Museums and Monuments.”
The source said the designs for themonument are being done
by one Mutasa.
It is said that, faced with the hangman’s noose, Mbuya
Nehanda refused to be converted to Christianity and, let alone, talk to
Catholic Priest Father Ritcherz apart from reminding him that “My bones shall
surely rise again”.
But Kaguvi converted and was christened Dismus, “the good
thief”, the name of the thief saved by Jesus on the cross. He was still hanged
but his conversion was meant to send him to Heaven. No double entendre!
Since then a powerful and prolific oral tradition grew up
around Nehanda, her part in the rebellion and especially the last moments of
her life after she was condemned.
Her refusal to accept conversion to Christianity, her
defiance on the scaffold and her prophecy that “my bones shall rise to win back
freedom from the Europeans” made her a national occult of the spiritual realm.
Herald
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