Govt ups efforts to erase colonial heritage
THE government is reinforcing efforts to rewrite history through erecting monuments that glorify the culture and heritage of the African people, replacing colonial monuments that pampered imperialism.
Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage minister Abednico Ncube
Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage minister Abednico Ncube
Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage minister Abednego Ncube told NewsDay yesterday during the viewing of a dedication tower erected at Morris Depot in Harare.
The tower is set to be unveiled by President Robert Mugabe next Thursday.
Ncube said the government, through the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, was upping efforts to build post-independence national monuments that celebrate the history of Zimbabwean people, contrary to how it had been narrated by the former colonial masters.
“For a long time, we have kept and maintained monuments that celebrated our colonial heritage with a very painful memory of our dispossession as a people,” he said.
“My ministry has embarked on a programme to build the true history of our nation, so as to reflect the true African values of most of our monuments.”
Ncube said the erection of the dedication tower at Morris Depot was an attempt to erase a similar distorted representation, which had been peddled by the Blatherwick Monument in honour of Captain Blatherwick, whose repressive efforts were honoured with a memorial tower at Morris Depot in 1921.
He said his ministry was committed to listing monuments that celebrate indigenous achievements and correct the bias that was created by colonial monuments.
“It is the purpose of my ministry to correct this anomaly by listing monuments that celebrate indigenous achievements,” Ncube said.
“We are currently putting finishing touches on the Chimoio Liberation Museum at the Chimoio Monument to narrate the accounts of the liberation war rear and we are finalising the structure of a similar site museum at the Freedom Camp in Zambia.”
All historical monuments that were listed before Independence included 40% colonial monuments, 30% archaeological monuments, 9% African monuments, 20% rock art and 1% colonial historical buildings.
By Tinotenda Munyukwi
