via Govt names roads after Muzenda, Nkomo – New Zimbabwe 23/01/2015
FOURTH Street in Harare will be changed to Simon Vengai Muzenda Street, in honour of the late vice-president who passed away in 2003, according to the latest Government Gazette.
Main Street in Bulawayo will also be renamed Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo Street. In December 2013 Nkomo’s statue was erected in the same street and at exactly the same spot where imperialist Cecil John Rhodes’s statue stood for decades.
Muzenda also known as the ‘Soul of the Nation’ passed away in September 2003 while former vice-president Nkomo, fondly known as ‘Father Zimbabwe’ died in July 1999.
The two are interred at the National Heroes Acre in Harare and have been key figures in Zimbabwean politics with Nkomo having been the main actor during the liberation struggle.
The announcement was revealed by the minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Ignatius Chombo in the Names (Alteration) Amendment of Schedule) Notice, 2015.
However it could not be established when the two roads will be renamed and if the local authorities concerned had been consulted on the issue.
Just after independence roads in Harare Central Business District were renamed in honour of Zimbabwe’s national heroes and other African icons like former Mozambican and Tanzanian Presidents Samora Machel and Julius Nyerere.
Other roads that were to be renamed with time include Union Avenue (Kwame Nkrumah), Second Street (Sam Mujoma) and Baker Avenue (Nelson Mandela).
Road names were also changed in other cities like Bulawayo and Kwekwe.
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