From: barnhart@netcom.com (Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:ZIMBABWE: HERO STATUS QUERIED
Date: 15 Aug 92 02:08:23 GMT
Reply-To: barnhart@netcom.com
Organization: Netcom

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, east
Title: ZIMBABWE: HERO STATUS QUERIED


an inter press service feature

by godfrey karoro

harare, aug 10 (ips) -- as zimbabwe's 10 million people
commemmorate heroes' day tuesday, what constitutes a hero
remains a closely guarded secret among the top hierachy in
the ruling party and the government.

the nation's war veterans association -- whose membership is
drawn from ex-combattants who survived the protracted war of
liberation which led to zimbabwe's independence in 1980 -- is up
in arms over the issue.

the association was last week not amused when the party
leadership ignored a request to have one of its members, marko
veremu, be declared a hero after he died in a car crash aug. 1.

veremu left the country in 1974 to join the armed strugle in
mozambique where he received military training. at independence
he was attested in the zimbabwe national army (zna) and retired
in 1990 as a captain.

the association twice postponed the burial in the hope that
the ruling zimbabwe african national union-patriotic front
(zanu-pf) would declare the late freedom fighter a provincial
hero.

''the party hierarchy declined to declare him a national hero
and no reasons were given,'' said the association's
secretary-general, charles ndhlovu.

''we had to abide by their decision, as they are the power.
however, i think when a decision is made it should be in the
interest of everybody,'' he added.

the members of the committee which decides who qualifies to
be declared a provincial or national hero have not been made
public.

last year a furore erupted when a pioneer of the liberation
struggle, noel mukono, was not declared a national hero
following his untimely death in december.

mukono, a founder member of the ruling zanu-pf party, had
joined the opposition zanu-ndonga led by the rev. ndabaningi
sithole.

the zanu-pf secretary for administration, didymus mutasa,
said mukono was not declared a national hero because his party
had not requested that he be buried at the heroes acre.
(more/ips)


zimbabwe: heroes (2)

''if sithole was concerned about where mukono should have
been buried, he should have approached the party or government.
zanu-ndonga's silence meant consent,'' explained mutasa, who was
the minister of political affairs.

the independent 'sunday times' tabloid commented sunday
that most of the 17 people buried at heroes' acre were by and
large associated in some way with zanu-pf.

''a hero of zimbabwe is not necessarily a hero of zanu-pf,
which is where the whole idea of burying heroes in an 'acre'
assumes preposterous dimensions,'' the weekly said.

''there are some great people (who are not) buried at heroes
acre, people who gave their lives for the liberation of this
country. they deserve to be buried in a special place for, in a
manner of speaking, they too were ''special'' people. their
heroism is truly 'national', and not just of the ruling party,''
observed the times.

a former zanu-pf fighter, who is now a colonel in the
national army, told ips that the government was abusing the term
hero.

''the government should tell the nation who is a hero and
what someone must have done to be declared a hero,'' the army
officer, who cannot be named, said.

he complained that the people who had died or sacrificed
their lives fighting for the liberation of the country were
being ignored.

''it is the people who were manning the party's offices in
london, new york and maputo who are now the champions of the
struggle,'' he said.

over 40,000 combattants from zanu-pf and the defunct zimbabwe
african peoples union (zapu) party were killed during the war,
both inside the country and in the base camps in zambia and
mozambique.

to honour the fallen, the government constructed the national
heroes' acre a few kilometres outside harare with the assistance
of north korea.

in addition to the 17 heroes whose remains are interred at
the acre, the state also erected the tomb of the unknown
soldier.

the ruling party has established eight provincial heroes
acres where ''lesser'' heroes have been buried.

''a hero is a hero. you cannot have a national hero and a
provincial hero,'' observed mike munyati, an executive member of
the war veterans association. (ends/ips/np/gk/oa/92)


-- 
Aaron (Barnhart@netcom.com) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african