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    HomeNewsPresident Mnangagwa reiterates call for Britain to repatriate heroes remains

    President Mnangagwa reiterates call for Britain to repatriate heroes remains

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    Harare, (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday reminded the British government that the spirits of national heroes will not rest until their remains are repatriated and interred in a dignified way.

    He was addressing thousands of mourners who gathered at the National Heroes Acre to attend the burial the late Jaison Chirinda who died at the CDM Diabetic Centre in the capital on October 27 after a long battle with diabetes.

    President Mnangagwa said the British government owes the country apologies and reparations for the oppression and exploitation that it perpetrated on locals during the colonial era. “We call upon the British Government, whose predecessor governments were responsible for pillaging and brutalising us, to take responsibility and not remain indifferent to the cries of Zimbabweans for justice,” he said.

    He said the Second Republic is committed to compensating white former commercial farmers for the improvements they made on the land that the government expropriated and redistributed to the previously dispossed black majority. President Mnangagwa said the late Chirinda, whose Churenga name was “Cde Chezhira Chakaipa”, stands among the luminaries of the country, from whom the young generation should emulate his character traits.

    He said Chirinda’s quest to see a free and independent Zimbabwe resulted in his arrest by the Rhodesian Forces and was sentenced to death but later commuted to life in prison. “I personally served with him in prison, with both of us waiting to be executed for carrying out guerrilla attacks in the country.

    “In the late National Hero, we have lost a loyal, persistent, consistent, brave and disciplined veteran freedom fighter, who sacrificed his youth for the liberation of our motherland, Zimbabwe. “His character and personality were an embodiment of humility, sacrifice, patriotism, discipline and selfless leadership,” he said.

    President Mnangagwa said the Second Republic is committed to compensating white former commercial farmers for the improvements they made on the land that the government expropriated and redistributed to the previously dispossed black majority.

    He said Chirinda, a pioneering veteran of the struggle for independence, was amongst the two groups involved in the Battle of Sinoia, now Chinhoyi, against the settler Smith Regime. Conscious of how blacks were being brutalized, dispossessed of their land and impoverished by the racist white settler colonial regime, the late hero joined the liberation struggle in 1965.

    “Taking a leaf from the heroes of yester-year, the duty is ours, the people of Zimbabwe, across all provinces and districts, to remain united, loyal and patriotic to our country so that we protect our independence and build our country for a better quality of life for all.

    “In prison the late National Hero, Cde Chirinda and myself served with other cadres that included Comrades Victor Mlambo, Lloyd Gunda, William Ndangana, Herbert Samba, Dzangasi Dube and Benjamin Mahaka, among others. We were subjected to harrowing, inhumane and dehumanising treatment for daring the colonial system,” said President Mnangagwa.

    The late Chirinda was born on 1 September 1942 in Gora, Madziva area in Mashonaland Central province. He did his primary education at Madziva Gora Primary School and later proceeded to Zambia where he enrolled for secondary education at Chifubu Secondary School in Ndola.

    He joined the liberation struggle in 1965 and was moved to Tanzania for military training at the Three Leaves Brigade. On completion of initial military training, he was sent to China for further training. When the late national hero returned from the People’s Republic of China, he was assigned, together with other cadres, to undertake critical missions which marked key milestones in the initial offensive military operations against the Rhodesian Forces.

    In the famous Battle of Sinoia, Chirinda led one of the groups that included the late ZANLA Commander, General Josiah Magama Tongogara, whilst the second one was led by Cde Chatambudza whose members became the legendary “Chinhoyi Seven” heroes, after they perished in the encounter with enemy forces.

    He was released from prison on attainment of Independence in 1980 and joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police, later transfering to the Ministry of Information and Publicity.

    He also served under the National Railways of Zimbabwe. At the time of his death, he was a farmer in Mashonaland Central province. The late Chirinda is survived by his wife Monica, 6 children and 19 great grandchildren.

    New Ziana

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