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Civic groups hail renaming of barracks after heroes

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CIVIL society groups in Bulawayo have appealed to government to honour several unsung former Zpra commanders by renaming some of the country’s military barracks after them.

CIVIL society groups in Bulawayo have appealed to government to honour several unsung former Zpra commanders by renaming some of the country’s military barracks after them.

BY SILAS NKALA

Ibhetshu likaZulu secretary-general Mbuso Fuzwayo said the late Zpra commander General Lookout Masuku, Nikita Mangena, Acid Ndlovu and Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa deserved such recognition.

“We should honour the late Zpra commander Nikita Mangena and Acid Ndlovu. We must even honour the living hero Zpra intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa because the narration of not honouring the living, except the President, is what has made us to be what we are especially in the past week,” he said.

“We must not centralise power to an individual. The honour, in my view, is good, but the Zpra element is diluted, even the revolutionary songs that are being played on ZTV are Zanla songs, they are not inclusive.”

Shalom Project Trust executive director Anglistone Sibanda said the move to rename the military barracks after liberation war heroes would help immortalise the national heroes and preserve their legacy.

“However, the process should have been open to citizens’ participation. We should have names like Mgandani Dlodlo. Caution though. There must be distinction between honouring and worshipping our heroes because the latter provokes God and it’s one of the reasons why we have been under a curse as a nation,” Sibanda said.

Mgandani was a Ndebele chief who did not take orders from the white settlers in the 1890s culminating in his assassination together with the army contingent he was leading.

#This Constitution leader Abigale Mupambi had reservations over the move.

“It makes us think that the whole issue is now meant to transfer power from the people to the military. We appreciate the military’s role in shaping government yesterday, today and tomorrow, but to have such a simultaneous move of events looking at the role of the army as things stand, it’s ambiguous,” she said.

In a recent Government Gazette, Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi announced that King George VI Barracks and the Airforce Headquarters in Harare had been renamed Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks.

Cranborne Cantonment Area has been renamed Charles Gumbo Barracks, Old Cranborne has changed to Kaguvi Barracks.

Also changed was Brady Barracks in Bulawayo, which has been renamed Mzilikazi Barracks, Karuyana Barracks has been changed to Chitekedza Barracks, HQ3 Brigade Barracks will now be called Herbert Chitepo Barracks and Chipinga Cantonment Area will now be called William Ndangana Barracks.

Sekeramayi also notified the change of HQ4 Brigade Barracks in Masvingo to Gava Musungwa Zvinavashe Barracks, Second Battalion to Masvingo Barracks and Gutu Barracks to Chinomukutu Barracks.