MDC-T mantain ‘No to Heroes’ Acre’ policy
The MDC-T continued with its boycott of Heroes’ Acre functions, accusing Zanu PF of monopolising the shrine to reward its cadres.
No senior MDC-T official attended the burial of Zanu PF politburo member and Harare governor David Karimanzira.
Party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said they were not boycotting the burials as such, but would not go to places where Zanu PF set its own terms and behaved as if they were more Zimbabwean than others.
“It’s not a boycott but what do you expect from the MDC-T when we are told to build our own heroes’ acre? National emergencies and tragedies should be platforms of unity and not platforms of division. Our sympathy goes to the Karimanzira family for we know he contributed to the struggle,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, a known critic of Zanu PF’s unilateralism on national hero selection, was the only senior non-Zanu PF politician at the burial.
Mutambara, currently embroiled in a bruising tussle for control of the smaller MDC formation with Welshman Ncube, was sandwiched between Vice President John Nkomo and Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo in the front row.
On Friday, Mutambara attended Karimanzira’s funeral wake at the late governor’s residence in the Grange in Harare, together with other Zanu PF ministers and service chiefs.
But Mutambara dismissed allegations the former ruling party had swallowed him up, saying: “We still do not agree with Zanu PF on the manner in which they chose heroes.
“It doesn’t matter he (Karimanzira) was declared hero by Zanu PF. It doesn’t stop him from becoming a hero. We want a clear selection process as the democratic forces in the country, but we don’t achieve that by boycotting. We don’t have to shout at each other and humiliate each other during death,” he said.
A few months ago, Mutambara and his party leadership boycotted the burial of other Zanu PF politicians at the shrine, accusing the former ruling party leaders of monopolising the place.
“Robert Mugabe and his party have no authority and locus standi (legal standing) in this country to determine who is a hero and who is not a hero. So we reject the message from Mutasa,” Mutambara said after the late Gibson Sibanda, his party’s vice-president, was denied hero status last year.
The secretary-general of the Ncube-led MDC formation, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said her party did not attend the burial of Karimanzira as it was a Zanu PF affair.
“Zanu PF has been consistent in saying that the National Heroes’ Acre is for a particular people. Since the criteria are Zanu PF criteria, why participate? We are basically respecting their position,” she said.
Though she said Mutambara should not be “criminalised” for attending the burial, she said as far as her party was concerned, Mutambara was now working with Zanu PF and “talking to Zanu PF”.
Party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said they were not boycotting the burials as such, but would not go to places where Zanu PF set its own terms and behaved as if they were more Zimbabwean than others.
“It’s not a boycott but what do you expect from the MDC-T when we are told to build our own heroes’ acre? National emergencies and tragedies should be platforms of unity and not platforms of division. Our sympathy goes to the Karimanzira family for we know he contributed to the struggle,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, a known critic of Zanu PF’s unilateralism on national hero selection, was the only senior non-Zanu PF politician at the burial.
Mutambara, currently embroiled in a bruising tussle for control of the smaller MDC formation with Welshman Ncube, was sandwiched between Vice President John Nkomo and Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo in the front row.
On Friday, Mutambara attended Karimanzira’s funeral wake at the late governor’s residence in the Grange in Harare, together with other Zanu PF ministers and service chiefs.
But Mutambara dismissed allegations the former ruling party had swallowed him up, saying: “We still do not agree with Zanu PF on the manner in which they chose heroes.
“It doesn’t matter he (Karimanzira) was declared hero by Zanu PF. It doesn’t stop him from becoming a hero. We want a clear selection process as the democratic forces in the country, but we don’t achieve that by boycotting. We don’t have to shout at each other and humiliate each other during death,” he said.
A few months ago, Mutambara and his party leadership boycotted the burial of other Zanu PF politicians at the shrine, accusing the former ruling party leaders of monopolising the place.
“Robert Mugabe and his party have no authority and locus standi (legal standing) in this country to determine who is a hero and who is not a hero. So we reject the message from Mutasa,” Mutambara said after the late Gibson Sibanda, his party’s vice-president, was denied hero status last year.
The secretary-general of the Ncube-led MDC formation, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said her party did not attend the burial of Karimanzira as it was a Zanu PF affair.
“Zanu PF has been consistent in saying that the National Heroes’ Acre is for a particular people. Since the criteria are Zanu PF criteria, why participate? We are basically respecting their position,” she said.
Though she said Mutambara should not be “criminalised” for attending the burial, she said as far as her party was concerned, Mutambara was now working with Zanu PF and “talking to Zanu PF”.
