BY NIZBERT MOYO
A 95-year-old former Zipra cadre, David Moyo, who is a brother to the late nationalist, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, says many ex-freedom fighters have nothing to show for their sacrifices, with some of them now worse off than they were before joining the liberation struggle.
Moyo, whose liberation war name was Sharp Shoot, said he was heartbroken as he still had no proper accommodation 40 years after independence and was relying on begging for food to feed his family.
“I am still nursing injuries I sustained during the war. I lost my brother Ziyaphapha in the same war,” he told Sunday Southern Eye on Independence Day.
“My heart is broken to realise that after 40 years of independence, I am still crammed in a three-roomed house with one bedroom, which I share with my mother-in-law who is now 90 years old.
“I am also supposed to queue for mealie-meal and look for other basic commodities to feed my family.”
Moyo said he takes three types of medication per month, which he sources from South Africa, but can no longer do so due to the national lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus.
“It really boggles my mind to realise that I am now at an advanced age and having liberated this country through my sacrifice, I still have nothing tangible that I will leave behind for my family to lay hands on,” he said.
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Moyo said first lady Auxillia Mnangagwa visited him last year and promised that government would look for land and build a big house for him.
He said almost a year later, the promise was yet to be fulfilled.
The former senior Zipra commander said he wanted to turn his Matobo farm into a tourist attraction but had no capital to do so.
Moyo said people who did not make any sacrifice to liberate the country were the ones enjoying the fruits of independence.
He said former president Robert Mugabe looted resources in the country and destroyed the economy.
“President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the right-hand man of Mugabe and should be reminded that he was in the forefront during the time when there were atrocities in Matabeleland,” Moyo added.
“He must repent otherwise people do not trust him.”
Moyo was in the same trenches with Jacob Zuma, the former South African president, as Zipra and uMkhonto weSizwe worked hand-in-hand during the liberation struggle.
