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The late Vice President Dr Simon Vengai Muzenda

George Maponga in Masvingo
President Mugabe will officially open the Dr Simon Vengesai Muzenda Heritage site on the sidelines of the ongoing Zanu-PF 16th Annual National People’s Conference here.

The heritage site was built in Masvingo’s Mucheke suburb in honour of the late Vice President Muzenda, affectionately known as the ‘’Soul of the Nation.’’

It was developed at the two huts in Masvingo’s oldest suburb of Mucheke where the late Vice President used to stay before taking an active part in the nationalist struggle against the Rhodesian regime in the late 1950s to early 60s.

Masvingo City Council preserved the late Vice President’s former dwelling in order to make it a tourist attraction but the project was affected by lack of funding.

However, things changed for the better early this year after the Friends of Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Trust decided to embark on a US$200 000 refurbishment project at the late VP Muzenda’s house to transform the dwelling into a heritage site.

At the heritage site, some of the items used by the late Vice President Muzenda such as his first car and other paraphernalia with something to do with his pre-independence history will be on display.

Zanu-PF Masvingo acting provincial chairman Cde Amasa Nhenjana, said that Dr Simon Muzenda Heritage site would be officially opened by President Mugabe during the course of the conference.

‘’Its (official opening of the Dr Muzenda Heritage site) on the President’s programme during the course of the conference but I am yet to know the exact day and time when the official opening of the Heritage Site will take place but its on,’’ said Cde Nhenjana.

‘‘The Heritage Site will contain some of the items used by the late Vice President during his illustrious career in the fight against Rhodesian oppression. The site will be opened as a way of honouring one of the founding fathers of our nation,’’he added.

Cde Nhenjana said President Mugabe would proceed to officially open the Heritage Site even before completion of all the required refurbishment work saying outstanding works could be completed later.

Friends of Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Trust said besides the late VP Muzenda the heritage site would also contain history of eminent nationalists who hailed from Masvingo such as national heroes Dr Benjamin Burombo and Cde Mayor Urimbo.

Also at the heritage site will be the history of the first black family that stayed in the the town of Fort Victoria soon after its establishment by the colonialists in the early 1890s.

Vice President Muzenda died on 20 September 2003 aged 80.

A carpenter by training the late Vice President was one of the first blacks who sowed the seeds of nationalism among blacks leading to the execution of the armed struggled that toppled the white minority regime culminating in the attainment of independence in 1980.

The late Vice President Muzenda was awarded the freedom of Masvingo city in 2001 in recognition of his active role in the development of the country’s oldest town and the province as a whole.

Of late there have been calls emerging from Masvingo for Government to erect the late Vice President’s statue in the provincial capital as a way of remembering his life and contribution to the socio-economic development of the province.