THIS year’s edition of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo memorial lecture will be held at the Chinhoyi University of Technology on a date yet to be advised as all public gatherings have been banned in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Organisers of the event, the Joshua Nkomo Legacy Foundation (JNLF), yesterday dismissed social media reports that the lecture would be held at Nkomo’s Matsheumhlope home in Bulawayo on April 18.
Fliers were circulated on social media stating that the 2020 Joshua Nkomo memorial lecture would coincide with Independence Day celebrations museum with Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) executive director Siphosami Malunga expected to be the guest speaker.
“A staff member (at the museum) rushed to advertise the memorial lecture at the museum without consulting others.
However, as far as we know, that lecture is cancelled,” said JNLF co-ordinator Jabulani Hadebe.
“What we have agreed on is to hold this years’ lecture at the CUT, but the date has not been confirmed as yet pending the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown.”
The Joshua Nkomo lecture series was launched in 2017 to “sustain and advance the legacy and vision” of Father Zimbabwe, with the inaugural events held at Wits University in South Africa and Gwanda State University.
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Hadebe said the public lectures are important to honour and highlight “the rich legacy of leadership, personal sacrifice, patriotism and national reconstruction that have been bequeathed to Zimbabwe by this great champion (Nkomo) of Zimbabwe’s national movement that culminated in independence in 1980.”
Nkomo was born on June 7, 1917 and died on July 1, 1999 at the age of 82.
The JNLF said it was also organising a Joshua Nkomo memorial youth symposium, Bulawayo outreach awards and the Joshua Nkomo centenary football challenge, whose dates are yet to be announced.
