THE Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation (JMNNF) has embarked on a project to spruce up the two gardens at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Museum at the late veteran nationalist’s home in Matsheumhlope, Bulawayo.
PAMELA MHLANGA
Nkomo’s house Number 17 Aberdeen Road in Matsheumhlophe was converted into a museum in 2007 in his honour. It was opened to the public at the end of January last year.
JMNNF acting director-general Jabulani Hadebe on Friday told NewsDay during an educational tour of the museum that the facelift of the monument would cost $8 000.
He said the sprucing up of the two gardens at the museum was expected to be complete by the end of April this year.
“Two Mqabuko Gardens have been established and extensive work to spruce up the area surrounding the Museum is still underway. There is a very good scenery because of the various indigenous and exotic plants that have been planted.”
Hadebe said the newly-established Mqabuko Gardens would also host exclusive and world-class events, including corporate functions, conferences, weddings and parties.
He said bookings for various events started trickling in about a month ago.
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“The facility also offers a number of services ranging from catering, decoration, sound system, photography, video filming and other multimedia services,” Hadebe said.
He said a child play centre has also been established in one of the two gardens which will see children visiting the area. JMNNF was founded in 2011 and seeks to perpetuate the legacy of the late Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo.
The museum is a non-profit, non-political, non-governmental and non-sectarian initiative managed by the board of trustees of the foundation.
It occupies all the 10 rooms of the previous main house, including the veranda where the navy blue bullet-proof Mercedes Benz that the late Father Zimbabwe used is parked.
Inside the rooms are neatly decorated portraits, newspaper cuttings, photographs, clothes, tools, kitchen utensils, including all the movable property that Nkomo and his wife, the late Joana – popularly known as MaFuyana — used.
Among the notable items in the museum is a love letter that Nkomo wrote to MaFuyana on February 2, 1977, expressing his undying love for her and informing her that he bought her a car as a present to mark their 23rd wedding anniversary.
Included also are Nkomo’s academic accolades and regalia, his library, neatly decorated bedroom, his clothes and rifles, among other things.
Nkomo is also captured in pictures during the liberation struggle with the likes of President Robert Mugabe, his close Zipra top brass, among them Dumiso Dabengwa, the late Lookout Masuku, Nikita Mangena and others.
