VICE President, Colonel (Rtd) Kembo Mohadi, says the government of Zimbabwe is grateful to the people of Moxico province in Angola for accommodating ZIPRA freedom fighters during the liberation struggle.
He said when he visited and laid wreaths at Boma Shrine this Tuesday, where more than 300 ZIPRA cadres’ remains were interred after the 1979 bombing.
The Vice President said the government will construct a shrine and a befitting monument.
“As the government, we are going to construct a befitting monument and a shrine with a roll of honour so that the history of our country will remain forever. What happened to these comrades is something that breaks our hearts. We are calling for survivors and those who know the names of the comrades lying to help us so that their families can find closure.”
The Vice President also paid homage to the people of Moxico for accommodating the guerillas during the liberation struggle.
“We will forever be indebted to you, the people of Angola for accommodating us. You were a young republic, yet you accommodated us, and you lost your relatives because of us. We are sorry that we took long to come and we will do everything in our power to make sure this place never looks like this again.
To the community of Boma, what happened on February 26 1979 will forever be engraved in their hearts.
“It was terrible. Very early in the morning, we saw planes coming in, then what followed was the sound of bombs we had never heard before. We saw a lot of dead bodies and it was scary. Up to today, I cannot forget it,” a community member narrated.
“We have never forgotten our friends and our people who died in this war,” Chief Ernisto Francisco said.
The governor of Moxico Province, Dr Enersto Muangala promised to support Zimbabwe’s endeavour to immortalise the contributions by the fallen heroes.
“We are going to support this, we are brothers since the war, we never felt safe even after getting independence without Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa still under bondage. So we will continue to support Zimbabwe.”
The sight of a 10 by five metre mass grave and other unmarked graves scattered around the Boma village forest evokes deep pain of the ultimate sacrifice made by the liberation struggle cadres.
The Second Republic is on a drive to immortalise the contributions by the gallant sons and daughters through the construction of shrines in countries where guerrillas’ remains are interred in mass graves and the construction of one such shrine at Boma will bring peace to this area.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mohadi handed food hampers to traditional leaders in Boma village before laying wreaths at the Luena Monument of Peace.
