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Our heroes stories needed

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ONCE again the nation has been plunged into mourning.

We recently lost Cde Highten Nkomo, an illustrious son of the soil, one of the commanders of the liberation struggle 

As we lose these important men and women in our country, it is unfortunate and sickening to hear a Zimbabwean disparaging the liberation struggle narrative, claiming to be ‘tired of it’.

Some among us have been convinced by our former colonisers to totally forget about our history.

They have been hoodwinked into believing that where they come from doesn’t matter at all.

We fought in the liberation struggle and our children seem not to fully grasp why we did it in a world that is constantly telling them to look ahead and forget the past.

We have always said heroes and heroines do not die, but what depresses me now is that our heroes and heroines may actually die because our children seem to know so little about them. 

Some of us participated in the liberation struggle so we know about these brave cadres, but what about those who were not there? 

What about those being born today? 

Will they know ‘where the rains began to beat us’? 

Will children born and bred today, both in the country and abroad, know the heroes and heroines of their land?

We have to value and document the stories carried by the men and women who fought and contributed to the country’s liberation struggle? 

That way, our children will draw inspiration from their heroes and heroines. 

We cannot continue to hear tales of heroics during burials only; Cde Nkomo trained Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Philip Valerio Sibanda and ZANU PF  Second Secretary Cde Kembo Mohadi, therein is an interesting story we will never hear from the horse’s mouth. 

We have to know of the exploits of our cadres while they live.

After all, they say the story is much better coming from the horse’s mouth.

My challenge is to those who participated in the liberation struggle. 

Let us all document our experiences. 

We have a unique opportunity in that a majority of the participants are still with us and thus this important story will not be distorted.

However, there will come a day when we will all not be around; all of us who participated in the liberation struggle.

Then what will our children do, rely on hearsay and distorted information?

People who know nothing about the struggle, those with personal agendas not good for the country, will provide information about the struggle. 

That would be so tragic.

Why should we forget our past? 

Have the Jews forgotten the holocaust? 

Have the Afrikaners forgotten the Boer War? 

Should then Zimbabweans forget crimes committed against them by the same people who continue to haunt us to date.

Yes, we can forgive, but to forget is tantamount to treason. 

Forgetting serves nothing but to create a vacuum in the mind – a vacuum needed by our very enemies so that they can, in the place of our ideologies, put in theirs.

The very same enemies and mischief makers who occupied our physical spaces a century ago are now coming through the backdoor to occupy our mental spaces.

Sadly, some in our midst, and for a few pieces of silver, have entirely given up their mental space to foreign ideologies. 

Our children and future generations need not reinvent the wheel, they must simply have reference points that will guide them.

Struggles never end, for always the invader will come back again and again to try and regain control and it is through our narratives that our progeny remain alert.

Our narratives will ensure that no time is wasted, for mistakes will not be repeated and successes will multiply.

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