PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said his administration is availing resources towards repatriation and reburial of thousands of war veterans lying in shallow and unmarked graves in and outside the country.
Delivering his speech during the 44th Heroes Day commemorations at the National Heroes Acre in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said the need to accurately record, document and preserve the story of the liberation struggle could not be over-emphasised.
He also said issues related to the welfare and economic empowerment of veterans, widows and war victims would continue to be given the attention they deserve.
“The second republic is aware of the need to memorialise the liberation war through repatriation, reburial and related processes to bring closure to the families of deceased veterans,” Mnangagwa said.
“Apart from well-known bases such as Freedom Camp, Mkushi, Nyadzonia and Chimoio, the government is availing resources towards repatriating and reburying thousands of veterans who still lie in shallow and unmarked graves in and outside the country.”
He added: “The Department of National Archives of Zimbabwe is also exploring partnerships with families of nationalists to establish liberation heritage archives and sites in all the 10 provinces of our motherland.
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“The department has also compiled documentation of liberation heritage narratives, with special focus on the Kamungoma Massacre Site in Gutu, Butcher Site in Rusape and the former Dzapasi Assembly Point in Buhera, among others.”
Mnangagwa said the conferment of medals on individuals who exhibited valour and performed distinguished humanitarian acts in various fields was intended to immortalise and memorialise the actions of the individuals.
Speaking on the energy crisis, Mnangagwa said power cuts would be a thing of the past following the expansion of Units 7 and 8 at Hwange Thermal Power Station.
“The role of the energy and power sector in socio-economic development through industrialisation cannot be over-emphasised,” he said.
“Low power production levels at Kariba Power Station are being offset by the Hwange 7 and 8 expansion project, which now feeds a constant supply to the national grid.
“Among numerous power augmentation projects, two large solar plants with a total capacity of 250 megawatts are being developed and will soon be commissioned.”
As of Saturday, according to Zimbabwe Power Company, Hwange was producing 1 099 megawatts (MW), while Kariba was at 215MW and independent power producers 43MW, giving a total of 1 356MW.
This is far below Zimbabwe’s installed power generation capacity of 2 800MW, which also falls short of the 5 000MW the country needs to fully support existing industry and households, which has seen the country importing electricity from Zambia and Mozambique to augment supply.