THE late liberation war army general Josiah Magama Tongogara yesterday became the latest centre of the Zanu PF-MDC-T popularity tug of war.
Report by Everson Mushava
It emerged Zanu PF had literally hijacked a planned MDC-T event to honour the national hero.
Tongogara, who was the commander of the Zanu’s military wing, Zanla, during the 1970s liberation struggle, died on December 26 1979 in a car accident in Mozambique a few days after attending the Lancaster House talks.
MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa yesterday said they had been working with Tongogara’s brother to commemorate 33 years after the commander’s death, but backed down after it emerged the plan was dividing the family which was now under pressure from Zanu PF to decline the MDC-T proposal.
“The commemorations were slated for the end of November,” Chamisa said.
“The party decided to postpone the event on account of the signals that we got from the family. The MDC-T is anchored on family values. We did not want to put politics ahead of the family.”
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) yesterday took up the idea and commemorated the life of Tongogara in Harare, laying wreaths at his tomb at the National Heroes Acre before proceeding to army headquarters, KG6, where the commemorations continued.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Chamisa claimed they had stolen the idea from the MDC-T.
Zanu PF, however, denied ever putting pressure on the Tongogara family to decline the MDC-T honour, saying the party’s supreme decision-making body, the politburo, had never met to deliberate on the issue.
In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said if anyone was giving pressure on the family, he was representing his personal views, not the party’s position.
Mutasa rubbished claims by MDC-T that Zanu PF had forgotten Tongogara.
“We have always honoured our comrades,” Mutasa said.
“Every year we have a Heroes’ Day where we honour every one of our liberation struggle heroes and Tongogara is one of them. Why should someone now want to say something that is irrelevant?”
But Chamisa insisted Zanu PF pressured Tongogara’s family to turn down the MDC-T honour which they went on to hijack using the ZDF.
“We want to acknowledge Zanu PF’s appreciation of our effort. They panicked when we did that on the late Ndabaningi Sithole. We intended to do the same to Tongogara and Lookout Masuku. We want to honour forgotten heroes who made a sterling contribution to the liberation struggle,” Chamisa said.
The MDC-T, together with Zanu-Ndonga, held a memorial service for the late Zanu founder at his farm in Chipinge, Manicaland early August. The party said it was (its leader and Prime Minister Morgan) Tsvangirai’s plan to acknowledge heroes who were not acknowledged by Zanu PF.
Chamisa added: “Heroes go beyond politics. We need to come up with benchmarks to determine national heroes in a way that will unite, rather than divide the people. We don’t want slogan heroes, Zimbabwe is bigger than politics.”
