THOUSANDS of people, mostly Zanu PF supporters, yesterday gathered in defiance of COVID-19 safety protocols in central Harare for the unveiling of the statue of Mbuya Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana.
This was the third time inside a week that President
Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed a State function without adhering to World Health
Organisation-prescribed safety protocols.
Last Friday, he addressed a huge gathering at Chief
Njelele’s homestead in Gokwe South, in the Midlands province, where some of the
attendees were not wearing masks.
The next day, he attended the memorial service of the late
Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri in Chikomba district, where he attracted a
sizeable gathering. Shiri succumbed to COVID-19 in July last year and was
buried at the National Heroes’ Acre.
This comes as the country is under threat of a third wave,
with the deadly Indian variant of the disease having already claimed one life
and infected nine people in Kwekwe.
Yesterday, traditional leaders performed rituals at the
unveiling of the statue of the revered spirit medium where they described
President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the chosen leader for the country.
Thousands of Zanu PF supporters clad in party regalia,
chanting revolutionary songs thronged the site where Mbuya Nehanda’s statue
stands at the intersection of Julius Nyerere Way and Samora Machel Avenue in
Harare.
The Zanu PF youths threatened to beat up opposition MDC
Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and his supporters in Harare.
Mnangagwa, who was flanked by Vice-President Constantino
Chiwenga and several Cabinet ministers during the unveiling ceremony, said the
country would continue to push for the return of Mbuya Nehanda’s remains from
the United Kingdom for proper burial.
His remarks come after suggestions by some sections of
society that government should have repatriated Mbuya Nehanda’s skull from the
UK before erecting a statue in her honour.
Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent) said it would have
been prudent for Mbuya Nehanda’s remains to be repatriated home before the
statue was mounted in her honour.
During the unveiling ceremony, some six traditional leaders
knelt and performed traditional rituals at the site, claiming that Mnangagwa
was chosen by the spirit “a long time ago” as the leader of the Second
Republic.
“We ask you to bless us because we have remembered your
spring that you hit with a stick and water gushed out,” the chiefs said during
the ceremony.
“This is what your great grandson has done, the angel of
the country. We have remembered you, so please give us the gift from the
deepest of your spring. Your sons, the chiefs, are here and being led by our
war veterans and those we elected as you said a long time ago that ‘he who I
will name will lead you in the second journey of the children of Zimbabwe’.
After the function, Mnangagwa handed over 18 vehicles to
traditional leaders to enable them to conduct their duties effectively.
The same traditional leaders once declared that the late
former President Robert Mugabe should rule for life before the veteran leader
was deposed in November 2017 via a military coup orchestrated by Mnangagwa and
Chiwenga, his former loyalists.
In his address, Mnangagwa said: “The towering Mbuya Nehanda statue we are gathered here to unveil is a reflection of heroic people of our country from Zambezi to Limpopo who sacrificed for the freedom we enjoy today.
“We are a people who we are, and where we come from and
where we intend to go.
“In her heroic defiance to the brutal hanging, she declared
that mapfupa angu achamuka (my bones shall rise). Present and future
generations must correctly contextualise that emphatic declaration,” Mnangagwa
said.
In choosing the site, Mnangagwa said it was the spring
where Mbuya Nehanda would drink water from and rest.
“You see those trees there, there is a church. A long time
ago when she was fighting the oppressors, it was there where there was a well
she would drink from,” he said, adding that his government was seeking to tell
the correct history of the country and was “setting the record straight”.
“It is not a place where young boys and girls will loiter
around with their lovers hand-in-hand. We must respect the place,” he said.
Newsday
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