Zimbabwe has now caught onto the anti-Rhodes movement in South Africa and are once again “pushing for the exhumation and repatriation to the United Kingdom of the remains of Cecil John Rhodes”. Rhodes is currently buried at Matobo, just outside of Bulawayo.

Zim had this argument back in 2012, but Mugabe was advised by the ruling party’s “highest decision-making body outside congress”  and they have yet to change their minds it seems.

It was the collective responsibility of the politburo to advise the president, who makes the ultimate decision. After the war of liberation, we saw no value in targeting such sites as it would have played right into the fears of the last remaining whites. That is why a committee under home affairs, which looks [after] national monuments, sites, statues and graves, was set up to address all these things.

According to the “war veterans”, having Rhodes buried where it is has caused the poor rainfall experienced in the Matobo area, saying “the ancestors were unhappy over the continued presence of his remains”.

The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) have “argued that the remains were part of the national history and heritage and therefore should not be tampered with”.

There we go!

Oh wait…

Zweli Malinga, a Zanu-PF member, is supporting the removal.

We cannot stand seeing whites coming from abroad every day to honour and conduct rituals for their ancestor who is here buried on our own land … The sooner they take [Rhodes] to their own land the better. If they do not, we will do it ourselves.

Woah.

Have a beer, buddy.

[Source: The Mail & Guardian]