MOVEMENT for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A) leader Nelson Chamisa has lambasted President Mnangagwa’s government for erecting a memorial statue for Mbuya Nehanda in Harare.
The memorial statue is being erected at the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way.
Chamisa told his supporters during an e-rally on Sunday that the erecting of the statue showed that Mnangagwa’s government is “wired wrongly”.
Chamisa, a pastor with a Pentecostal church, said an MDC-Alliance government will not worship the dead.
Journalist Conway Tutani described Chamisa’s utterances as yet another example of “outrageous disrespect” of the nation’s history by Chamisa.
“This is another outrageous disrespect from MDC Alliance leader Chamisa demeaning the role and place in history of Mbuya Nehanda.
“This is the same person who last year said he would ban the Zimbabwe Bird in the event he comes into power because, according to his distortion, retaining the Zimbabwe Bird as a national symbol was akin to idol worship, and he claimed that “idolatry” of the Zimbabwe Bird was the source of all the problems in the country.
“We did not hear such accusations of “worshipping the dead” from Chamisa when the statue of another national hero, Joshua Nkomo, was erected in Bulawayo, where it still prominently and proudly stands,” said Tutani.
Government says the statue is in honour of Nehanda’s heroic rebellion against colonialism during the First Chimurenga/Umvukela in which she paid the ultimate price by being hanged.
The First Chimurenga/ Umvukela of 1896-1897 was an outraged reaction by locals against white invaders, with Nehanda and other famed spirit mediums playing a central role.
Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana also known as Mbuya Nehanda was a svikiro, or spirit medium of the Shona people.
She was hanged in 1898 and her story inspired the war of liberation in what became known as the Second Chimurenga from 1966 leading to independence in 1980. – Zimbabwe Voice
