ONCE again we find ourselves asking an all too familiar question.
Where are the narratives of our heroes?
Cde Don Kwaedza Muvuti is no more.
Another hero has left us to join the finest of our sons and daughters.
Another gallant son of the soil has left with his rich narrative; the beautiful narrative of the nation.
I celebrate the lives of fellow fighters who departed with a heavy and disconsolate heart.
Theirs is an important story that must live on for the benefit of the nation and posterity.
The death of Don Muvuti brings to the fore an issue that I will not tire speaking of until we all, all of us, act upon it.
I am talking about the issue of our history, the issue of our story, the need to document it.
I was asked an innocent question by a youngster that lingered and lumbered in my heart and mind.
The youngster asked with a genuine inquiring mind: Who is Don Kwaedza Muvuti?
I was heartbroken.
I have said I have no more tears to shed but lives to celebrate.
The lives of those who took part in the country’s quest for freedom.
I will start by giving a brief history of Cde Muvuti before I get on to why his death and that of many others leave me in an invidious position.
Cde Muvuti was a soldier of the country’s struggle.
He rose through the ranks delivering immense contribution to the struggle.
He was part of the African Students Association that kept the Rhodesians on their toes.
This grouping pressed the colonial regime to recognise the rights of black students and was a vehicle for mobilising nationalists to wage a fight against colonialism.
In 1964, after completing his Master’s Degree, he went to Tanzania where he joined the late Chairman Herbert Chitepo.
He helped in mobilising resources for fighters during the struggle.
Time and again I have said we need to document our history.
I have emphasised the need to write books on these people before they depart the earth.
We need to come up with documentaries.
We need to do movies.
We need to do biographies.
We need to do magazines.
There are many stories that we are losing by turning a blind eye on our history.
This is one subject that I will never stop talking about.
I hope this is an initiative that will receive support from the relevant authorities because it encompasses our past, our present and our future.
I do not envisage a situation where all that will be left of the history of Chimurenga are narratives told by outsiders, narratives told by Rhodesians.
We need a recorded catalogue of our narrative.
The time to do that is now.
This drive calls for the broader spectrum of our nation to be able to make it possible.
I know we will achieve it.
To Cde Muvuti I say: Rest in peace brave warrior of our struggle!
Sleep well baba!