The Zimbabwean Government has been criticised over its misplaced priorities after Cabinet on Tuesday resolved to erect two statues in Harare.
On Tuesday, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Cabinet approved the erection of statues in honour of late former president Robert Mugabe and the late former vice president Joshua Nkomo in Harare.
Nkomo already has another statue erected in his honour in Bulawayo city centre.
Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Hopewell Chin’ono said the Government should prioritise providing clean water, education and basic health care for citizens instead of wasting money on statues. Wrote Chin’ono:
On the eve of an election, the Zimbabwean Government is offering statues when all its hospitals have no single working radiotherapy cancer treatment machine, when its citizens have no clean drinking water and as a result, many are dying from cholera, when schools have no books!
Addressing a post-cabinet media briefing in Harare on Tuesday, Mutsvangwa said Cabinet adopted the report on nominations for 2023 honours and awards presented by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Honours and Awards. She said:
The nation is further advised that in recognition of the roles played by Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe and Dr. Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, who selflessly dedicated their lives to the liberation of Zimbabwe, Cabinet approved the erection of statues in Harare.
The Statue of Cde. R.G. Mugabe will be erected at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, while the second Dr. J.M.N. Nkomo statue will be erected at the trumpet interchange at the intersection of Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo and Glenara Roads.
In honour of the late nationalist and First black medical doctor and physician and first Vice President of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), the late Dr. Tichafa Parirenyatwa, a statue will be erected at an appropriate entrance to the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
The Government erected a statue of Mbuya Nehanda on the corner of Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way a few ago.
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