Govt to honour Gen Mtshane Khumalo, Queen Lozikeyi and Mgandani Dlodlo

By Dumisani Dlodlo

REVERED General Mtshane Khumalo, the commander of King Lobengula’s Imbizo Regiment that defeated the Allan Wilson Patrol at the Battle of Pupu in 1893, as the first shots of colonial resistance were fired is set to be honoured by Government.

Gen Khumalo would be honoured alongside Queen Lozikeyi and Mgandani Dlodlo similarly as that of Mbuya Nehanda whose statue is being erected in Harare.

The development was announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa during this year’s Heroes Day virtual address.

Government is currently seized with the construction of Mbuya Nehanda`s statue in Harare at the intersection of Samora Machel and Julius Nyerere, where she is believed to have occasionally stopped to rest and drink water from a river that flowed on the site.

“Other heroes and heroines from the early wars of resilience will also be honoured in a similar manner. Among them, General Mtshane Khumalo, who commanded the Imbizo Regiment, under King Lobengula, that defeated the Allan Wilson Patrol at the Battle of Pupu on 10 December 1893,” President Mnangagwa said.

Adding that “Other distinguished heroes and heroines of the First Chimurenga/Umvukela such as Sekuru Kaguvi, Chaminuka, Queen Lozikeyi Dlodlo, Chinengundu, Mashayamombe, Mgandani Dlodlo, Chiwashira, Chingaira Makoni and Mapondera among others, will be accorded appropriate recognition.”

The late Vice President Joshua Nkomo and Gen Alfred Nikita Mangena are some of the other luminaries of the Second Umvukela who are also set to be honoured.

“From the Second Chimurenga/Umvukela, the late General Josiah Magama Tongogara, Gen Alfred Nikita Mangena, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Cde Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Cde Simon Vengai Muzenda among others, will also be honoured,” President Mnangagwa said.

Additionally, the list of the country’s monuments would be reviewed to include the Pupu Liberation War Shrine amongst others.

“The list of our monuments is being reviewed to include the liberation war shrines such as the 1893 Pupu Shrine, the 1966 Chinhoyi battle site and the Kamugoma massacre of site of 1978, in Masvingo.

“Other sites such as the National and Provincial Heroes Acres, Assembly Points as well as former detention and restrictions centres have also been made national monuments. Meanwhile, liberation war shrines in neighbouring Mozambique and Zambia will continue to be rehabilitated,” said President Mnangagwa.