Statue of Mbuya Nehanda
The Statue of Mbuya Nehanda is a bronze monument of a Zimbabwean Shona spirit medium and heroine of the 1896-1897 First Chimurenga war against British colonists. The monument is erected at the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Julias Nyerere Way in Harare's central business district. Background. It is the first statue of a Zimbabwean female liberation war hero and was unveiled on Africa Day, 25 May 2021. The monument is under National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe The 3 meter high statue crafting was guided by a photograph of Mbuya Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana  that was supplied by the National Archives of Zimbabwe. It was crafted by Mr David Mutasa a bronze casting artist at Nyati Gallery then the construction of the whole site was carried out by Zimbabwe CRSG Construction. Construction began on in June 2020 and during construction, portions of Harare CBD roads including Samora Machel between Leopold Takawira Street and First Street and Julius Nyerere Way between Sam Nunjoma Street and Kwame Nkurumah Avenue were temporarily closed. Construction was scheduled to be completed by August 2020 but it took longer than expected. In December 2020, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered the  statue to be re-crafted after public criticism of the statue's structure which did not depict how the only known photo of Mbuya Nehanda looks like after statue's images went viral on social media during the president's visit to Nyati Gallery. Controversy. The idea of making and constructing this statue project sparked public debate and criticism from public figures and analysts like Fadzayi Mahere and Tsitsi Dangarembga questioning government's priorities in its decision to spend an unknown amount of money on the statue while the economy and health system collapse More criticism emerged when the statue  had to be remade after the original sculpture was rejected for not looking enough like Mbuya Nehanda. The actual cost of this project is unknown although popular journalist Hopewell Chin'ono claimed that transportation only of materials from South Africa for crafting the statue cost US$100 000.