THE story of the country’s struggle for freedom cannot be fully understood and explained without mentioning the significance of the three bronze statues that make the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National Heroes Acre.
At the revered shrine the three statues stand tall, representing the liberation struggle narrative that is encapsulated by the freedom Zimbabwe enjoys today and significantly the revolutionary Land Reform and Resettlement Programme of 2000.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is part of the symbols that tell and remind us of the story of the struggle.
It is a depiction of the aspirations of thousands of the country’s freedom fighters who perished and were buried in unmarked graves in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and elsewhere.
The bronze statues of three soldiers, two men and a woman, show the universal involvement of the freedom fighters and how the common goal of fighting the oppressive Rhodesian colonial regime unified the people.
The masculine features carved on the statues show the noble qualities of freedom fighters which are symbolic of the sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who made sacrifices in the war against colonialism.
On either side of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are murals with illustrations of the liberation struggle from colonisation to post-independence.
The surfaces are hard, showing that Zimbabwe’s independence was hard-won.
The first stage on the right mural shows when the Europeans first came to Zimbabwe, marking the beginning of colonisation.
It also illustrates how colonialists brutalised the black people.
The same mural also discloses how, when the whites came, took advantage of the modern weapons they had while the black people relied on inferior weapons, including bows and arrows.
The murals also reveal that there were some black men who were incorporated into the white colonial system and were turned into sell-outs. 
Other features on the statue include the national flag, weapons of war such as an AK 47 rifle, bazooka and rocket launcher showing the common weaponry used during the Second Chimurenga.
The base of the statues is covered with stone architecture depicting Great Zimbabwe walls symbolising the heart of the country and land which the freedom fighters fought for.
The connection between the soldiers who perished in the war and the living is portrayed by the statue standing on the tomb, with the former being symbolic of the living soldiers and the latter being the brave heroes who died during the war. 
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier covered with shiny black granite is a symbolic burial made to appease the souls of thousands of soldiers who died during the fight for independence and were never afforded a proper burial.
These soldiers, made up of mainly young men and women who made the great trek outside the country’s borders, were clear of purpose from day one.
They wanted their country’s freedom; and with it ownership and control of their land and abundant natural resources.
But last week an event which resonates the idea behind the erection of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the land issue in Zimbabwe happened when four High Court judges went through the intense public interviews for the positions of judges of the newly-established Southern African Development Community (SADC) Administrative Tribunal by the Judiciary Services Commission (JSC).
What was disappointing was that some of the interviewees exhibited shocking ignorance of the role of the new SADC Administrative Tribunal which they were confusing with the disbanded one.
The new administrative tribunal is expected to deal with interpretation of the SADC Treaty and Protocols relating to disputes between member-states, labour disputes between SADC employees and States among other issues.
Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba and other panelists caught the aspiring judges flat-footed when they posed questions relating to the role of the new body, even some with impressive CVs, maintaining the body would be meant to resolve disputes among States.
The old tribunal was disbanded after Zimbabwe successfully raised dust on the body’s incessant biased rulings which were, in the eyes of Harare, tantamount to interference premised on the objective of reversing the gains of the land reform programme.
It was created to consider disputes between member-states, individuals, organisations or institutions, staff of the SADC secretariat and the community.
The confessions by the interviewees that they were not aware of the mandate and functions of the regional body were reminiscent of those who ran away from the liberation struggle and later opposed the land indigenisation programme during its inception.
These are enemies of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the black economic empowerment agenda.
They are enemies of the war veteran component within the establishment yet each time they visit the National Heroes Acre they are confronted by the imposing Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In early 2000, as it was in the 1970s, there was a class drawn mainly from the opposition who share the dream of thousands of successful black farmers scattered across the country benefitting from the land.
They still haven’t grasped what being Zimbabwean means and they still carry the dream of destabilising this great nation.
Yet the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier tells the story of the past, the present and the future.
It should simply be understood and revered for what it stands for.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is more than a statue, an inanimate object; it pulsates with life.