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Nkomo statue erection preparations underway

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THE government and Bulawayo City Council have begun preparations to re-erect a statue of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in the city.

THE government and Bulawayo City Council have begun preparations to re-erect a statue of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in the city.

Report by Nqobile Bhebhe

Work on the erection of the statue, to be mounted along Main Street, began yesterday and is expected to be completed by October 18.

“(The) public is hereby informed of temporary and partial road closure of Main Street between Leopold Takawira Avenue and 9th Street for the installation of the late Joshua Nkomo statue by the Ministry of Public Works from September 2 to October 18, 2013,” read a notice from the local authority yesterday.

In July, Nkomo’s daughter, Thandiwe Nkomo-Ebrahim, confirmed the statue would be up soon.

Plans to honour Nkomo through the mounting of a life-size statue have on previous occasions flopped due to lack of funding after an initial attempt in 2010 was reversed after the Nkomo family complained about government’s unilateral decision.

Civic society groups also protested at the erection of the statue after it emerged that the statue was built by North Koreans.

North Korea trained members of the 5th Brigade, which is accused of killing more than 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands during the Gukurahundi era.

Nkomo’s only surviving son, Sibangilizwe, however said yesterday that he had not received any official communication about the statue.

“No one from government has informed me about the statue,” he said.

“I only heard this morning (yesterday) from people saying there is activity on the proposed statue site.

“But they are used to doing projects without communicating. I will have to check with other family members.”