The number of African heads who trooped to the National Sports Stadium to pay tribute on the death of former President Cde Robert Mugabe and the building of a mausoleum in his honour will always remain constant silent reminders of how one of the founding fathers of an independent Zimbabwe was held in esteem across the continent.
Eleven sitting heads of state and governments and nine retired ones attended.
That 20 such dignitaries had to shelve their busy schedules to come and pay their last respects to the former President was enough to leave Western imperialists green with envy.
For it had been the ultimate objective of these Western bullies to convince the world, in general, and Africa, in particular, that Cde Mugabe was such a bad person, unfit to be associated with.
They failed horribly.
But then these imperialists will never accept defeat.
Their megaphones, instead of highlighting the presence of a large number of foreign African dignitaries, focused on the ‘few’ people who attended this occasion.
And yet this occasion was specifically for foreign dignitaries, though other mourners were not barred.
What these megaphones, on behalf of their Western imperialists, conveniently ignored were the thousands who had already paid their last respects to their revered hero for two days at Rufaro Stadium.
The West would prefer that the late Cde Mugabe be forgotten, together with everything that he stood for.
No wonder the hue and cry from the Western media over the proposed mausoleum Zimbabweans want to house the remains of their hero.
They fear the mausoleum will be a symbol that will immortalise Cde Mugabe and all he stood for.
Pose for a moment and ask yourself where Mbuya Nehanda was buried.
Her fate is just like that of our other heroes of the First Chimurenga — like Chingaira Makoni and Chinengundu Mashayamombe, among others — who were beheaded.
Where are their graves?
Muammar Gaddafi was buried ‘somewhere’ in the desert and Osama bin Laden, ‘somewhere’ in the sea.
All this is for a purpose. They fear that if the burial sites of these people are identified, they would be popular shrines much to the chagrin of the West. Let alone a mausoleum for Cde Mugabe!
These are people who, like Cde Mugabe, the Western colonialists and America never liked.
But these Western imperialists are the worst hypocrites.
According to American standards, the proposed mausoleum of Cde Mugabe, expected to be completed in 30 days, is quite modest.
That of his American counterpart, the founding President of the United States, George Washington, took years and millions of US dollars to complete. Other American war heroes like Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses Grant have equally imposing mausoleums.
What’s wrong with Africa preserving the memory of her heroes — especially her founding fathers!
A collage of pictures of mausoleums for African leaders by a Western inspired social media tries to compare the mausoleum of founding African father like Kwame Nkrumah to the grave of George W. Bush.
This is the height of insult.
While Bush is just one of American presidents, Dr Nkrumah is the founding President of an independent Ghana.
The West should leave us alone as we try to keep alive memories of our heroes; just as we leave them alone when they build monuments for their heroes.
Let’s not leave the West to write the history of our heroes.