Ex-Zipra war veteran, Linganiso Mdabuko Nyathi, says his 15-year effort to acquire land for a tourism and hospitality school honouring the late vice-president Joshua Nkomo is being disrupted by the Matobo Rural District Council (RDC).
Nyathi, founder and chairman of the Lalangwe Mbambangwe Memorial Trust, previously accused the Matobo RDC of obstructing the construction of the proposed Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo School of Tourism and Hospitality in the district.
He said it was disappointing that his attempts to honour the late nationalist had been thwarted by the local authority ever since the trust was established in 2011.
Nyathi said he had been engaging the Matobo RDC since August 2011 to secure land for the project, without success.
Despite the challenges, he vowed not to give up.
“We are getting closer to July 1, the day Nkomo was announced dead after being transferred from Avenues Clinic to Parirenyatwa Hospital,” Nyathi said.
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“I will continue calling upon the government to declare free land for the construction of the JMN Nkomo School of Tourism and Hospitality and other facilities.”
“I am very much concerned about children traumatised by the way their parents died during the war and after the 1980 independence.
“I further need to establish a school of thought and a centre for criminology to counsel our children.”
He said his efforts to build the school were meant to visualise the good work that the late Father Zimbabwe and other national heroes did during and after the liberation struggle.
Nyathi said there was too much trauma among children of Zipra, Rhodesian and Zanla forces, who were affected by information about how their parents died during the war.
He said the history surrounding this must be archived, and his organisation would seek war records without political affiliation.
Efforts to get comment from Matobo RDC chief executive officer Elvis Sibanda were fruitless.
His mobile number was unreachable, and he did not respond to WhatsApp messages.
In 2023, the RDC dismissed Nyathi’s claims.
The RDC said the council and the physical planning department had identified an area long ago after public consultations.
It also added that some stakeholders objected to the original project site because it lies within a World Heritage site.
The project was originally supposed to be constructed at Maphisa in Kezi.