Christon Bank Environment and Tourism Association spokesperson Ms Avril Dlamini has said that gold panners and squatters were showing disrespect to Mbuya Nehanda’s shrine in Mazowe valley, about 20 kilometres from Harare.
It is reported that gold panners are cutting down of trees, digging tunnels in and around the shrine. Resultantly, Christon Bank has approached the government for intervention. Ms Dlamini said:
The shrine was home to Mbuya Nehanda and it was the epicentre of the liberation struggle, but total disrespect is now being shown to this heritage site.
This is an agro-residential area. It is the green belt of Harare, but the very trees we are supposed to preserve are being cut left, right and centre, and nobody cares.
Nehanda was a powerful spirit medium and heroine of the First Chimurenga war against British colonial settlers in the 1890s.
Her remains and those of Sekuru Kaguvi are in the United Kingdom where they are displayed in a museum as trophies of war and authorities have since time immemorial said that they were trying to bring them to Zimbabwe but there are no results to show.
More: The Herald