EDITORIAL COMMENT: Mugabe’s Hero Declaration a Fitting Honor for Struggle Icon
09 SEP, 2019 - 00:09
Zimbabwe Chronicle
THE declaration of the founding father of Zimbabwe, Cde Robert Mugabe, as a national hero and his expected burial at the National Heroes’ Acre on Sunday is a fitting honour for the late struggle icon, Pan Africanist and elder statesman whose contribution to the independence of the country is unparalleled.
Cde Mugabe belongs to a rare breed of liberators whose selflessness knew no bounds and who were passionate about the emancipation of the entire African continent. News of his death brought the entire world to a standstill with eulogies and condolences pouring in from around the globe.
Kenya declared three days of national mourning while Heads of State and former presidents took turns to console the people of Zimbabwe on their loss. Indeed a giant has fallen as epitomised by the spontaneous outpouring of grief and the global attention his death received from virtually all international news outlets.
In Cde Mugabe, Zimbabwe has lost a liberator and a father whose love for his people knew no bounds. We thus applaud the decision by the Zanu-PF Politburo to confer him national hero status and in the process ensure that he will be interred alongside his contemporaries at the National Shrine.
While there was talk that because of the circumstances of his resignation from office in November 2017, Cde Mugabe was against being buried at the National Heroes’ Acre, it has since emerged that the former President never said that with his family spokesperson and nephew, Mr Leo Mugabe, clarifying the issue at the weekend. “I saw the WhatsApp message to that effect, but we don’t know where the information originated from. I know there are people who create these stories so that they make comments for themselves, but that is not the official position of the family,” said Mr Mugabe.
Government has also revealed intricate details of the last moments of Cde Mugabe amid reports that the former President planned to return to the country at the end of this month and mutually agreed to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa upon his homecoming before his untimely death last Friday.
The Director-General in the President’s Office, Mr Isaac Moyo, who was the point man in liaisons between the State and the former First Family, said the former President died around 4AM at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore despite having briefly shown signs of improvement earlier in the week. The State materially supported Cde Mugabe and his family’s upkeep during the five-month period he spent in hospital prior to his death.
DG Moyo said Cde Mugabe and his family enjoyed cordial relations with the State and had planned to meet President Mnangagwa. “The former President hoped he was going to come back home and that he wished to see the President upon his return. We had told him that the President looked forward to seeing him upon his return and he had also expressed similar sentiments that he would be delighted to meet the President. And at that time, we were told that the last date of his medical engagements was the 17th of October and that soon after he would return home. A week after our return, I then got a call from Mrs Mugabe and she said that the treatment regime that the former President was having would no longer be extended to October, it would end in September instead and because of that, they were now scheduled to come back home at the end of September,” he said.
We are glad that the former President died at peace after resolving his differences with his protégé and confidante, President Mnangagwa. To his credit, the President never uttered a single bad word about his former boss despite open provocation from those around Cde Mugabe. That mutual respect ensured that the door was always open for rapprochement.
We commend the efforts of DG Moyo who worked hard to keep lines of communication open between Cde Mugabe and the Government. We are also delighted that the former President never voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance and its leader Mr Nelson Chamisa in last year’s harmonised elections. That would have been a great betrayal of the party he founded and the values and ethos that he lived by.
Now that everything has been clarified with the stage set for a grand farewell at the National Heroes’ Acre on Sunday, we urge Zimbabweans to come out in their numbers to give our founding father a fitting send off. Political differences should be put aside as the people of this country close ranks to honour a man who sacrificed a large part of his life to liberate them.
We also commiserate with the Mugabe family and urge them to take heart from the fact that their son ran a good race and has bequeathed a rich legacy to this country which will be hard to emulate.
Zimbabwe Chronicle
THE declaration of the founding father of Zimbabwe, Cde Robert Mugabe, as a national hero and his expected burial at the National Heroes’ Acre on Sunday is a fitting honour for the late struggle icon, Pan Africanist and elder statesman whose contribution to the independence of the country is unparalleled.
Cde Mugabe belongs to a rare breed of liberators whose selflessness knew no bounds and who were passionate about the emancipation of the entire African continent. News of his death brought the entire world to a standstill with eulogies and condolences pouring in from around the globe.
Kenya declared three days of national mourning while Heads of State and former presidents took turns to console the people of Zimbabwe on their loss. Indeed a giant has fallen as epitomised by the spontaneous outpouring of grief and the global attention his death received from virtually all international news outlets.
In Cde Mugabe, Zimbabwe has lost a liberator and a father whose love for his people knew no bounds. We thus applaud the decision by the Zanu-PF Politburo to confer him national hero status and in the process ensure that he will be interred alongside his contemporaries at the National Shrine.
While there was talk that because of the circumstances of his resignation from office in November 2017, Cde Mugabe was against being buried at the National Heroes’ Acre, it has since emerged that the former President never said that with his family spokesperson and nephew, Mr Leo Mugabe, clarifying the issue at the weekend. “I saw the WhatsApp message to that effect, but we don’t know where the information originated from. I know there are people who create these stories so that they make comments for themselves, but that is not the official position of the family,” said Mr Mugabe.
Government has also revealed intricate details of the last moments of Cde Mugabe amid reports that the former President planned to return to the country at the end of this month and mutually agreed to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa upon his homecoming before his untimely death last Friday.
The Director-General in the President’s Office, Mr Isaac Moyo, who was the point man in liaisons between the State and the former First Family, said the former President died around 4AM at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore despite having briefly shown signs of improvement earlier in the week. The State materially supported Cde Mugabe and his family’s upkeep during the five-month period he spent in hospital prior to his death.
DG Moyo said Cde Mugabe and his family enjoyed cordial relations with the State and had planned to meet President Mnangagwa. “The former President hoped he was going to come back home and that he wished to see the President upon his return. We had told him that the President looked forward to seeing him upon his return and he had also expressed similar sentiments that he would be delighted to meet the President. And at that time, we were told that the last date of his medical engagements was the 17th of October and that soon after he would return home. A week after our return, I then got a call from Mrs Mugabe and she said that the treatment regime that the former President was having would no longer be extended to October, it would end in September instead and because of that, they were now scheduled to come back home at the end of September,” he said.
We are glad that the former President died at peace after resolving his differences with his protégé and confidante, President Mnangagwa. To his credit, the President never uttered a single bad word about his former boss despite open provocation from those around Cde Mugabe. That mutual respect ensured that the door was always open for rapprochement.
We commend the efforts of DG Moyo who worked hard to keep lines of communication open between Cde Mugabe and the Government. We are also delighted that the former President never voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance and its leader Mr Nelson Chamisa in last year’s harmonised elections. That would have been a great betrayal of the party he founded and the values and ethos that he lived by.
Now that everything has been clarified with the stage set for a grand farewell at the National Heroes’ Acre on Sunday, we urge Zimbabweans to come out in their numbers to give our founding father a fitting send off. Political differences should be put aside as the people of this country close ranks to honour a man who sacrificed a large part of his life to liberate them.
We also commiserate with the Mugabe family and urge them to take heart from the fact that their son ran a good race and has bequeathed a rich legacy to this country which will be hard to emulate.
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