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Addressing mourners at the burial of Zanu-PF deputy national political commissar Cde Ephraim Masawi at the National Heroes Acre in Harare yesterday, President Mugabe set the record straight on who shou-ld be interred at the national shrine. “Taunganidzwa pano naVaMasawi, ndivo vatikoka sekukokwa kwatakaitwawo neva-mwe vatakaradzika panharaunda ino iyi. Nharaunda ino, tinoda kutsanangura zvakai-svonaka, inharaunda yevanenge vakaone-kwa kuti ava ndivo vakaisvogonesesa pahu-tungamiriri hwavo, pabasa ravo reChimurenga, rekurwira nyika. Saka inharaunda yevarwi veChimurenga,” he said to applause and ululation.

The President added: “Haisi nharaunda yevanhu vanongonzi vatsvene. Vakawanda vatsvene, vakawandisisa vanobatsira vanhu . . . Asi pano patiri panodiwa veChimurenga saka kana tava kuda vatsvene vamwe vanogona zvakatikuti, angave mabasa emumafactory, mabasa ezvekurima, mabasa mamwewo anoitwa, tada magamba orudzi urworwo totsvagawo rimwe gomo ndipo potoisawo vatsvene verudzi irworwo. Pano ndepevemutupo weChimurenga ndozvatakaitira nzvimbo ino. Asi pano tinoisa vaye vatinoti ava vaita shudhu. Uyu watirikuisa pano ndemumwe wevamwe vakaita shudhu.”

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defe-nce Forces’ remarks follow recent futile attempts by MDC formations to be consulted on the selection of national heroes and their bid to have Government confer the national hero status on Mr Gibson Sibanda, founding vice president of MDC. Mr Sibanda died in August and was buried at his rural home in Matabeleland South with State assistance.

The President chronicled how Cde Masa-wi played a crucial role during and after the liberation struggle. He said although Cde Masawi did not leave Zimbabwe for military training outside, like what many others did, the former Mashonaland Central Governor and Reside-nt Minister recruited and mobilised fighters back home. President Mugabe said without the backing and contribution of cadres like Cde Masawi back home, the liberation war would not have yielded the independence Zimba-bweans are now enjoying.

“Who is this man who has united the nation in mourning his untimely departure? Who is this man whom we are paying our last respects? There are some among us who do not think that Cde Masawi deserved national hero status and perhaps justifiably so because they did not know about the life and sacrifices he gave to the liberation struggle,” he said. President Mugabe said the conferment of national hero status on Cde Masawi was unanimous.

“Speaker after speaker narrated the history of this very simple, but sophisticated man, and all of the Politburo members ably recounted his dynamic and consistent political and revolutionary acts. “We did not find any yawning gaps in his revolutionary political life from beginning to end. “He remained resolute, unshaken, ever determined to ensure that the struggle for the liberation of this country was prosecuted to its logical conclusion,” he said. The President also narrated how Cde Masawi and other youths engaged in acts of courage and sabotage and caused a real breakdown of law and order against Ian Smith’s regime during the liberation struggle.

He said the late national hero was active in organising the youths, who came together under a group called “Zhanda” (from the Gendarmerie) to cripple the agriculture sector and white-owned businesses. “Cde Masawi was kept busy, mobilising and organising passive resistance at home, be it against the Pearce Commission or against the infamous political rallies organised by the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government.

“He became State enemy number one, a thorn in the flesh for the colonial administration that had to be got rid of. Thus, the enemy engineered two attempts on his life through bomb attacks that were targeted at him and his colleagues,” President Mugabe added. At independence, the President said, Cde Masawi did not retire from politics but soldiered on to ensure that political gains were defended and the land was restored to its rightful owners.

“Cde Masawi’s post-independence political career is without blemish. He remained an active member of the party, Zanu-PF, beginning at the lower echelons of the party and rising through its ranks to the positions of deputy secretary for information and publicity and deputy secretary for the commissariat, the position he held until his death,” President Mugabe said.

He said Cde Masawi was a resourceful person and used his experience not only to shape the Youth League but also to guide the party. “Muhurumende akakwira kumusoro akava Governor and Resident Minister for Mashonaland Central kwamakore mashanu,’’ President Mugabe said. During his tenure as Governor and Resident Minister for Mashonaland Central province, Cde Masawi oversaw the allocation of land under the land reform programme.

President Mugabe also took the opportunity to remind Zimbabweans that the country remained under enemy siege. He, however, urged indigenous people to take control of the economy through ownership of resources and the means of production. “Our enemies and detractors are fighting day and night to destroy our national unity. They dislike our inclusive Government. They do not want to see us exercising our autonomy and sovereignty but want to dictate to us how we should govern ourselves,” he said.

President Mugabe urged Zimbabweans never to allow the enemy to meddle in the country’s domestic affairs saying doing so would be a negation of the sacrifices made by gallant freedom fighters like Cde Masawi. “We are an independent country now. Our resources are ours. They belong to Zimbabweans. They belong to the sons and daughters of Zimbabwe and those who want to share the resources must get our permission to do so. We must agree that they come as partners and come as partners in a manner we define and not in a manner they define. The manner we defined is quite straightforward — Zimbabweans should have major shareholding in whatever enterprises. Our people must accept it,” he said.

President Mugabe noted with displeasure that some of the country’s young professionals were hesitant to run businesses. He said they were only comfortable in being chief executive officers and managers in foreign-owned companies. “Some of our trained young people have been conditioned to worshipping the white men working as CEOs in white men’s enterprises whether its Anglo-American or Rio Tinto, this is now old fashioned. You were born again in 1980. You are now the masters and those who made you CEOs should now be your CEOs,” President Mugabe said, to rounds of applause from thousands of mourners who converged at the national shrine to pay their last respect to Cde Masawi.

He also castigated those opposed to the economic empowerment programme saying their claims that the move would not attract investment were baseless. “If people (investors) do not want to come on those terms let them stay out, they are not good for us . . . That should never be allowed in an independent Zimbabwe. Let them stay away. Our true friends are eager to come and even those companies from countries with sanctions on us are asking to be accommodated,” President Mugabe said.

Those opposed to black economic empowerment, he added, were “actually rejecting independence”. President Mugabe also condemned the continued existence of the illegal Western economic sanctions.
Officials from both MDC formations boycotted Cde Masawi’s burial yesterday.