Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA has been invited to contribute to the documentation of Africa’s liberation struggle for the Museum of African Liberation, which is currently being constructed on a 100-hectare (ha) land in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
Namibia is among several countries that were invited by the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to participate in the documentation of the continent’s liberation struggle. Namibia’s contribution will be part of the documentation displayed at the Museum of African Liberation, which is intended to demonstrate Africa’s journey to independence under one roof.
Namibia’s invitation was delivered by Mnangagwa’s Special Envoy, Ambassador Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, during a courtesy visit with President Hage Geingob, where he said that Namibia’s independence struggle is “nothing short of being glorious”. He therefore emphasised that the documentation of Africa’s liberation struggle would be incomplete without the documentation of Namibia’s independence struggle, under the leadership of SWAPO.
“The documentation and the writing of the liberation of the African continent in general, and in southern Africa in particular, can never be complete without the full and active participation of Namibia, under the leadership of SWAPO. It will never, never be complete because most of the brutality of the liberation struggle, the brunt of it all, was carried by SWAPO,” Mumbengegwi said.
Mumbengegwi said that Namibia is one of several countries that were invited to participate in the project. He revealed that the invitation was not only extended to African countries, but also to countries from other continents that assisted with the liberation of Africa.
“On that 100 ha, there will be opportunities and spaces for all those who participated in the liberation struggle, both in Africa and outside Africa, since we had friends such as the then Soviet Union, now Russia, China, Cuba and some of the eastern European countries that participated,” Mumbengegwi explained.
According to Mumbengegwi, Africa’s liberation struggle is not fully appreciated, even by those who endured the hardships of colonialism.
The museum, he explained, is therefore intended to serve as a concrete demonstration of the struggle’s freedom fighters had to endure and overcome. He explained that the museum aims to document the liberation struggle in a deliberate and systematic manner – starting from the days of resistance against colonialism up to the armed struggle for freedom and the eventual dismantling of the apartheid regime.
This project, Mumbengegwi revealed, is being constructed in collaboration with the Institute of African Knowledge (Instak). It is currently under construction and completion is scheduled for 2024.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Instak, Kwame Muzawazi, explained that the 100-ha land will be known as Liberation City. Besides the Museum of African Liberation, Muzawazi said, there will also be a Pan-African Memorial Park, where Namibia was offered 4 400m2 of land for the construction of a monument to commemorate the country’s independence from the South African government.
Muzawazi added that there will also be a number of other facilities in Liberation City. This includes a shopping mall, an animal park, an amusement park and a heritage village.
Geingob made it clear that he welcomes the establishment of Liberation city, emphasising that the story of the liberation struggle must be told as it was “a heroic struggle”. He added that the fight for independence was not easy, especially because the apartheid regime was supported by powerful western countries, which now tend to focus on preaching democracy.
“It was not easy. They (colonial powers) were supported by more powerful countries, western countries. Today, they (western countries) want to lecture us about democracy,” Geingob said.
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