ONE of the greatest evils of colonialism was the white’s strategy to make blacks believe that only things associated with whites were of value.
This we ‘happily’ internalised.
That English was a compulsory subject in school and had to be passed to proceed to the next stage was not by accident.
Thus names of important places or even first names had to be English.
Not only that.
English names of what were considered to be of ‘great’ people were immortalised by giving them to key institutions like schools, hospitals, Government buildings and military barracks among an array of other places.
This colonial influence has to be wiped out in a free Zimbabwe.
Thus the official renaming of King George VI (KGVI) Barracks to Josiah Magama Tongogara Barracks goes a long way in identifying military institutions with our war heroes who played a major role in persecuting the armed struggle which led to our independence.
Surely, it was wrong to name our esteemed barracks after an English King who reigned during the Second World War, an imperialist war when colonialists were at each others’ throats over the redistribution of spoils at our expense.
Apart from immortalising our hero who prosecuted the liberation war up to the eve of independence, the name Magama Tongogara has meaning in a country like Zimbabwe.
For posterity, it will be easier for future generations to grasp the fact that, they were their own liberators through such names.
Surely there is a breath of fresh air in names like Herbert Chitepo Barracks instead of HQ3 Barracks or Gava Musungwa Zvinavashe Barracks instead of HQ4 Brigade Barracks.
More pleasant changes include the renaming of the National Defence University to Nikita Mangena and Flyde Airforce Base, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo.
It will be a great folly in the education system if pupils are not taught about roles played by liberation icons like Mangena or Chitepo and a host of other liberation luminaries.
The renaming of these institutions demonstrates an awakening from the colonial slumber which for a long time saw no evil in downplaying our own people.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa could not have put it more aptly when he described the renaming exercise as a phenomenal step.
“The ghost of colonialism has thus been exorcised by the renaming of these institutions after our illustrious sons and liberation icons,” said the President.
But maybe the President’s observation should have reverberated throughout all sections of our country.
Today, many names of institutions, even Government institutions, place names, roads, streets and suburbs are in English.
Some of these were given by colonialists as a way of honouring their heroes.
As blacks, what heroism can we discern from a die-hard colonialists like Cecil John Rhodes or his partner Leander Starr Jameson.
It is unbelievable that to this very day, schools and hotels, among other items, still bear names of these characters.
The argument that people are lazy to think of replacement names for Queen Victoria or Prince Edward should be dismissed.
This is simply the effects of colonial mentality.
For what explanation will you get from a group of black Zimbabweans today who will sit down and decide to call their new suburb Westlea or Borrowdale Brooke?
And this is a name of their own volition.
But this not to say examples have not been set, where names have been changed to reflect changing circumstances.
Our own country was renamed from colonialist linked Rhodesia to Zimbabwe after the indigenous Great Zimbabwe monument.
Not only that.
Names of some institutions, like Andrew Fleming Hospital, was renamed Parirenyatwa.
A good number of towns, cities, roads, streets, rivers and bridges among other items had their names adjusted to reflect African ownership.
Finding appropriate names should not be much of a problem.
For these can be got from our own definition of heroes, be they local or from other parts of Africa.
The pool from which to choose suitable names in line with our identity is large and varied.
It could be as diverse as from rivers, mountains, royalty totems, politicians, sports personalities or even musicians.
We wait to see more colonial ghosts exorcised.