Former Freedom Fighters say Mnangagwa’s Government has Desecrated Zimbabwe’s Heroes AcreFormer freedom fighters of the 1960s say President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has desecrated Zimbabwe’s Heroes Acre as the national shrine is now a preserve of the ruling elite with no liberation credentials or traceable records of fighting for the needs of the people. Former ZIPRA combatant, Isaac Mabuka, who is the current Zapu chairperson, says some war veterans want to rule the county forever. “At the moment we have people who have declared that they won’t allow anyone who did not participate in the liberation struggle to be the leader of Zimbabwe. That’s not what we fought for. We fought for one-person-one vote and we have a constitution we need to follow at all times. There is nobody who owns Zimbabwe. The country belongs to all Zimbabweans. “I wish to appeal to war veterans to desist from making these utterances. I’m appealing to all war veterans not to decide who is to rule us because anyone who wins the elections has the right to rule. That is what we fought for. It must not be us the war veterans to stop the people from voting for who they want. We should not tell them who to vote for and we should stop threatening them with death if they make their own choices. We must understand that people can vote in anyway and hence we need to support them and not discourage of threaten them.” Zapu spokesperson, Msongelwa Ndlovu, echoed Mabuka’s sentiments, noting that the processing of selecting heroes in Zimbabwe has been desecrated by the ruling party. “Heroes Day forever supposed to be celebrated because people sacrificed their lives to afford us the independence we enjoy today. The fact that the national liberation project has been desecreated by Zanu PF does not erase the sacrifices that our people made to liberate our country. We celebrate the ZIPRA sacrifices, we celebrate the ZANLA sacrifices but we must do so knowing fully well that Zanu PF as a party and their ZANLA combatants have desecrated the independence project and for that reason we must remain cognizant of the fact that as much as we are liberated we know that we are not independent." National hero status is the highest honor that can be conferred on individual and the recipients are entitled to be buried at the National Heroes Acre. Speaking at the National Heroes Acre today, Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans should not lose sight of the role played by former freedom fighters. He said his government wants to recognize the role played by some of them, including Zanu founding president, the late Reverand Ndabaningi Sithole. He also noted that his government is unrelenting in its pursuit to entrench democracy, constitutionalism, the rule of law, good governance and respect for human rights. Mnangagwa warned countries “who never came to our help during the brutal oppressive years under white settle colonial regime” against dictating how the county should be run.