A delegation of government officials and veterans of the liberation struggle have paid homage to liberation war heroes buried at the former ZIPRA training camp in Boma village of Angola.

The camp is where the remains of close to 300 ZIPRA freedom fighters were interred after the 1979 bombing of the former ZIPRA training camp in Angola’s Boma village.

A visit to the former training camp by veterans of the liberation struggle in Angola this Thursday brought back sad memories of what transpired when the area was bombed on the 26th of February in 1979.

“Before we established this camp for training ZIPRA cadres, we had interacted with our colleagues from Angola. We had good relations with them. In 1977 this camp was established. We had recruits from Tekwane, Manama mission and then a number of recruits came from Mashonaland West. The planned intake was 2000 but we never stuck to 2000 because Cubans used to come and collect these recruits. It’s not easy to go through this without breaking down because here we brought young men who decided to abandon their lives inorder to come and liberate this country and for youths, they must understand that there are people like these sleeping here in foreign land who died to liberate Zimbabwe,” said Brigadier General (Rtd) Abel Mazinyane.

Brigadier General (Rtd)Ncube weighed in, “Boma was closer to the border and therefore easier for aircrafts coming from that far to come and bomb us and go back so to be safer we moved to Malanje after the bombing which claimed hundreds of ZIPRA cadres and some villagers because the villages were closeby. Malanje is not far from Luanda in terms of the reach of the FAPLA Air Force and it’s something they could interdict if there was any such attempt by the enemy and we felt safer there. When we were here, we were not using our home names, we used guerrilla names. I was Bitwell Tinamona and people didn’t know me as Richman Ncube, they knew me as Bitwel Tinamona and we hope that if people can do a bit of digging into records especially the records that were at the headquarters in Lusaka, we will be able to know who and who were buried here.”

The war veterans’ visit to Boma comes after Vice President, Cde Kembo Mohadi’s trip to Angola early this month and is part of the second republic’s initiatives to immortalise the former training camp while deepening relations between Angola and Zimbabwe.

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa says no-one should be left behind hence there is a programme which stipulates that all the countries and communities that assisted Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle that is countries which include Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and here in Angola, and where the gallant sons and daughters of the country were buried should be honoured and remembered and not forgotten like what was about to happen here. We are happy that after the President sent his Vice President Cde Mohadi to this area recently, plans are underway to immortalize the place, and they are going on smoothly. We thank the Angolan leadership for safeguarding this area for us,” explained the Deputy Minister of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, Honourable Headman Moyo.

The Boma community also pledged its support to Zimbabwe, amid efforts to face-lift the former training camp.

“The villagers here have always come to clean and they are aware of what happened here during the time Zimbabweans were being trained here. They are also happy to assist in memorialising the area and keep it clean because it tells a story that should be told to Zimbabweans and Angolans for generations to come,” said Boma village traditional leader, Mr Mariz Upale Salukombo.

The delegation is also set to visit another former ZIPRA training camp in Malanje Province of Angola.