(NEWZIMBABWE) Mutambara slams Ncube, Tsvangirai Heroes Day boycott
Sending a message ... Zanu PF supporters holding placard at Heroes Acre
12/08/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

AFTER an apparent political hiatus during the election season, the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara re-emerged on Monday with an attack on other political party leaders for boycotting Heroes Day commemorations.

Mutambara, who pulled his MDC-M party out of the July 31 elections, had virtually gone out of sight but was at the Heroes Acre in Harare at an event addressed by President Robert Mugabe but boycotted by his main political rivals – MDC-T leader and outgoing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC’s Welshman Ncube.

Mutambara, who laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the shrine where national heroes of the liberation struggle are buried, said the boycott by Tsvangirai and Ncube showed they had no respect for those who fought for Zimbabwe’s freedom from colonial rule.

“When gallant sons and daughters of the soil took up arms to redeem Zimbabwe from the clutches of oppression, they had one priority – driven by a shared goal, to liberate every Zimbabwean from colonial bondage,” he told ZBC TV.

“It is, therefore, proper for everyone to show some respect for the departed and living heroes and heroines, regardless of one’s political affiliation,” her added.

Tsvangirai and Ncube have previously complained that Mugabe and his Zanu PF party have failed to separate national events from party activities.

They would have felt vindicated as Mugabe all but turned the event into a Zanu PF rally, toasting his victory in the July 31 elections with the slogan ‘Pamberi nekuwhina maelections!’ (Forward with winning elections!).

Mugabe told his political rivals who were refusing to accept his victory to “go hang”, adding: “Those who can’t stomach the defeat, you can commit suicide. Even dogs will not sniff their carcasses.”

Heroes Day is a holiday in Zimbabwe to remember the dead and living heroes of the 1980s war of liberation from white colonial rule. Many of the veterans are Zanu PF members and dismiss rival parties as creations of Western countries bent on recolonising the country by establishing a puppet government.