Behind Chinhoyi’s Great 7 Commandos A resident walks through Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre recently and (inset) the roll of honour for the Chinhoyi Seven, which lies a stone’s throw from the provincial shrine
A resident walks through Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre recently and (inset) the roll of honour for the Chinhoyi Seven, which lies a stone’s throw from the provincial shrine

A resident walks through Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre recently and (inset) the roll of honour for the Chinhoyi Seven, which lies a stone’s throw from the provincial shrine

Robert Mukondiwa
AFTER calls for the Chinhoyi Seven to be accorded national hero status by the Head of State and Government and Commander- in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe during the Mashonaland West Presidential Youth Interface Rally, the gallant seven have come to the fore again and fresh eyes look at their legacy.

Accounts differ, but there is a thread that runs through Zimbabwe’s liberation war history which is consistent in the telling. The very first aggressive acts of fighting off the shackles of oppression from colonialism in the Second Chimurenga no doubt started with the Battle of Chinhoyi.

Seven gallant young men laid down their lives after a blistering almost 12-hour battle with the enemy before being taken to the unknown.

Their remains lie in some unmarked grave while their effort etched in the memory of the people of Zimbabwe. The Chinhoyi Seven, as they are known today, were definitely not the first people to fire a bullet in the quest for self-governance.

Millions of Zimbabweans had in their hearts cursed the savagery of colonial conquest, thereby firing their own ammunition against oppression in their words and thoughts.

And yet it takes the gallantry of just one soul to make the ultimate sacrifice and send word that the end of oppression is nigh. This is what the Chinhoyi Seven did in the then colonial Rhodesian instance.

The Chinhoyi Seven, like the thousands of desperate, downtrodden young men in hard-scrabble Rhodesia, set to fight for their freedom after being humiliated in their personal lives.

The most infamous of the men, Samy David Guzuzu, had been a candidate to a public flogging for defying the orders of his racist white superiors.

He quit the job to escape the dehumanising act and vowed to go and fight for the nation’s ultimate freedom.

He, like his fellow fighters, had never wanted to be the byword for freedom.

Just ordinary nationals with equal opportunities who could follow their dreams, hopes and aspirations. Instead, today they are the seven that mark a defining history of the nation.

Yet perhaps the biggest shortcoming is that the area where they fought the long- drawn-out battle and made their mark now just lies like a fallow piece of land with precious little to acknowledge the hard work, energy and tireless dedication of the combatants that died there and triggered the birth pangs of Zimbabwe.

Simbaneuta Mudarikwa, the maverick Member of Parliament for Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe and a proponent of the recognition of fallen heroes, is one such person who thinks we can better mark and recognise the efforts of the fallen heroes as the President decreed.

In his home area, he has contributed to the building of memorial shrines to celebrate the ultimate sacrifice of the freedom fighters and believes Chinhoyi should better celebrate the Seven.

“The work of those combatants has been written about and, of course, there is signage that this is where the struggle was born, but more can be done to better celebrate their work,” he says with conviction.

He is right. A visit by The Herald to the battle ground bears a forlorn notice recounting how the area hosted the first battle followed by a roll-call of the seven and nothing else beyond that. With the passage of time, the insignia, which lies a stone’s throw away from the Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre, will succumb to the elements as it already has started doing.

“Our heroes need proper shrines and we should educate our children repeatedly on the importance of selflessness and sacrifice,” insists Mudarikwa.

“That way they will better appreciate that life is not only about yourself and those closest to you, but the greater good of being good to one person as you would like them to behave towards you and treat you,” he says.

The Chinhoyi Seven made the ultimate sacrifice, but as a result, there are families who had to live with the loss of their children. Zimbabwe celebrates the lives and memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and the families who live with their loss.

The Seven were— Christopher Chatambudza, David Guzuzu, Simon Chingozha Nyandoro, Godfrey Manyerenyere, Godwin Dube, Chubby Savanhu and Aurthur Maramba. Their remains were later to be found, with them being interred in unmanicured graves at the Chemagamba burial ground, which is the provincial heroes acre close to where they were killed.

Buy your copy of The Saturday Herald and share the memories of those families left behind by the Chinhoyi Seven and how they dealt with their loss.

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