BY KING’S OFFICE CORRESPONDENTS
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – His Majesty King Mswati III witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony where SADC Liberation Monument and Museum of African Liberation are going to be built.
SADC Chairman and Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson D. Mnangwaga yesterday handed over the one hectare land for purposes of building the museum, where he said each member state has been invited to construct a monument of its struggle against colonialism.
Earlier in the day, His Majesty joined other SADC leaders for a tour of a landmark waste management facility that has been initiated by the government of Zimbabwe in public private partnership (PPP).
The facility known as the Ponomo Waste Management Centre, is basically turning an undesirable dumpsite into an energy generator, water purification.
The events were attended by three other heads of states, in Botswana’s Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi, Angola’s Joa Manuel Goncalves Lourenco and Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina and SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi, who received the land behalf of the SADC Organ Troika Chairperson Samia Suluhu Hassan.
President Mnangwaga said it is time that their generation of African leaders to correct the distorted African history, which has been and continues to be distorted to suit the parochial interests of their former erstwhile colonial masters.
“It is the responsibility of our generation to ensure that this important phase in the history of our continent is accurately documented and secured. It is time that we set the record straight . Otherwise, history will judge our generation harshly for having watched, with disinterest while our history is falsified,” the president and SADC Chairman said.
He said the museum is an affirmation of the liberation struggles of the African continent.
“It should ultimately be the custodian and embodiment of all that which characterised the decolonisation of our respective countries, our region and the entire continent, including the African diaspora.
“It immortalises our rich African heritage, given its central role as reservoir of the events and activities that characterised our struggle against foreign domination and exploitation. It should, also, be a source of pride and inspiration to future generations to jealously defend and guard against the encroaching wave of neo-colonialism,” he said.
The president said the objective of this museum is to amply the heroics exploits of the African people, to restore their dignity and to celebrate our African-ness.
President Mnangwaga paid tribute to the Frontline States, which today form what is known as SADC, for their selfless political and economic sacrifices which they made for Zimbabwe.
He said their struggle for freedom and independence would not have been as successful without the support and solidarity of the member states as well as the people’s Republic of China and Russian Federation (USSR).
He thanked the support of the SADC member states and other African countries, that enabled the official African Union endorsement of the establishment of the Museum of African Liberation.
He said this project was being spearheaded by the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK).
The president said his government will continue to deploy resources and expertise towards the institutionalisation of African narratives and perspectives on the decolonisation of the continent.
The museum is going to be built in what is known as the SADC Liberation Square, the Liberation City in Harare.