BY NUNURAI JENA
FAMILIES of the seven Chinhoyi Battle heroes have said they are bitter that besides the naming of the streets in honour of their departed relatives whose death signalled the launch of the armed struggle in 1966, government had not given them anything else in the form of compensation.
Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of the Heroes Day commemorations at Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre on Monday, Flora Chatambudza an aunt to hero Christopher Chatambudza said their families should get land since they are settled on barren land in Mhondoro.
“We got nothing from government. It is my prayer that the Chatambudza family be allocated a piece of land since they are settled on barren land in Mhondoro,” Flora said.
Most family members said they were not officially told about the hero status of the Chinhoyi Battle heroes.
Asked if the declaration of the seven as heroes was properly done, Mashonaland West war veterans’ leader Cornelius Muoni said they did not have paperwork to that effect.
“On the issue of the declaration, it was done by former President Robert Mugabe in 2017, but we do not have paperwork to that effect … we are following up on the paperwork of the seven’s hero status,” Muoni said.
The seven, who perished on April 28, 1966, are Chatambudza, Arthur Maramba, Simon Chimbodza, Nathan Charumuka, Godwin Manyerenyere, Ephraim Shenjere and David Guzuzu.
