Nyasha Marumbi
MASVINGO – Two members of the Crocodile Gang, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Matthew Malowa, blew up a Rhodesian steam locomotive in 1964 at Masvingo Railway Station.
It is against this background that the Zanu PF department of environment and tourism decided to establish a shrine in Masvingo in honour of the liberation war heroes.
The site of the Trabablas Trail shrine is the railway station, and it is expected to be completed by May 30, with preliminary work already underway.
Trabablas Dzokerai Mabhunu was President Mnangagwa’s Chimurenga name and he also operated with William Ndangana in the Crocodile Group.
Addressing people who attended the meeting convened to prepare the work on the shrine, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Enshrinement vice chairperson, Dr Gibson Mahachi said the idea was to honour the group for the courageous act of bombing the locomotive.
“The events of the Trabablas Trail is very important to the history of Zimbabwe and we want to develop the place in a way that befits its status,” said Mahachi.
Mahachi said all the requisite materials and information to display at the shrine will be ready by the end of May.
It was also heard the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) was also working on revisiting other places around Zimbabwe where the Crocodile Gang members carried various activities in the early days of the Second Chimurenga.
Other places in line for enshrinement in Masvingo are Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp in Chikombedzi and Altera Farm in Mashonaland were Zapu members including the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo were confined.
The meeting was graced by Roman Catholic Church priest, Father Emmanuel Ribeiro, Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamira and Zanu PF director of environment and tourism, Stewart Mutizwa.politics
