Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Chimoio Massacre: Brutality at its worst

"It is 33 years after the massacre at Chimoio but when you come here, it feels as if this atrocity has just been committed. 
"It is as if it just happened. The sight of the mass grave, with so many hundreds of people, is itself haranguing. It is as if the smell of death has not left after all these years."
The Herald

Own Correspondent
NOTHING conjures up the irascible memories of the horrors of the bitter struggle for Zimbabwe’s Independence more than the mass murder of innocent refugees at Chimoio by the Rhodesian forces on that fateful day when the world woke up to the shock news of the atrocity we now know as the Chimoio Massacre. 

It is now 33 years, from the unforgettable day of horror, October 24, 1977 when about 2000 Zimbabwean refugees were killed in a dawn raid by the Rhodesian army on a refugee camp at Chimoio in Mozambique in one of the world’s worst brutalities on humanity since the holocaust. 

Sadly though for us, it is as if no one remembers.

The shrine at Chimoio, the mass grave where bones of the innocent victims lie permanently interred, as an eternal monument to our collective pain and suffering under the colonial yoke, deserves more attention. 

The visit to the shrine at Chimoio last week by a 48 strong team of engineers, quantity surveyors, architects and other professionals including Principal Director, Retired Colonel Mhakayakora and senior officials from the Ministry of Public Works led by Deputy Minister Senator Aguy Georgias, turned out to be a pilgrimage. 

The Public Works Ministry team took the weekend road trip to Chimoio at the end of a strategic planning review conference held at Vumba last week to deliberate on the ministry’s vision and mission. 

Marking the end of such an important conference with a trip to Chimoio turned out to be a re-invigorating, as well as a touching and emotional experience for the Government officials. 

The Deputy Minister of Public Works, visiting the site for the first time, felt moved to recommend that his ministry be given the responsibility for the maintenance of the shrine, that it may be kept sacred and respected. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs, through the department of National Museums and Monuments, is the custodian to the shrine. 

To Aguy Georgias, the visit to Chimoio was a harrowing experience.

"It is 33 years after the massacre at Chimoio but when you come here, it feels as if this atrocity has just been committed. 

"It is as if it just happened. The sight of the mass grave, with so many hundreds of people, is itself haranguing. It is as if the smell of death has not left after all these years."

Georgias is, however, not too pleased with the way the shrine has been maintained that he was quick to volunteer the services of his ministry in the maintenance of the shrine. 

At present there is open access to the shrine that even cattle may wander through.

The names of the victims are not prominently displayed as they should be at the entrance. 

Speaking after the visit to Chimoio, Sen Georgias said: "It would be good to put some form of security and protection to preserve the site, put a gate or entrance through which visitors coming to pay homage and respect may enter, and perhaps even pay a token fee for purposes of keeping the place well maintained, dignified and sacred. We certainly can do better to honour the memory of our fellow Zimbabweans who lie interred here."

Adds Georgias: "This place should be kept with respect, utmost dignity and honour. It is sacrosanct. It is the most poignant and perhaps most epochal edifice to the pains and horrors of the Zimbabwe national struggle for justice and equality of all races.

‘‘If Zanu PF does not fight to maintain these mass graves, even during this period of the inclusive Government, then we will have failed.’’ 

At present only a few volunteers who include a war veteran, Conrad Nyangwaya whose Chimu-renga nom de plume is Sony Chigwagwagwa work as guides and patrons of the shrine. 

Sen Georgias, a leading crusader against the EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, believes that places like Chimoio serve as "a constant reminder of the pains we have gone through as a nation; that should help inspire our sense of patriotism, and serve as a guide to our dialogue in our quest to commonly define and understand the Zimbabwean national question."

The senator feels Zimbabweans should have long filed a class action suit against the EU at its own Court of First Instance for collateral damage to the national economy leading to the current social condition where the majority population has been driven into poverty. 

"I see that it is still difficult for certain elements in our society to fully grasp and understand the extent of the economic malaise caused by the EU and US sanctions in a manner akin to blaming the victim while identifying with the aggressor."


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