Harare Council moots Solomon Mujuru Street

By Moses Matenga

Harare City Council is mulling naming a road after the late Retired General Solomon Mujuru in recognition of his sterling job during and after the liberation struggle.

Mujuru, Zimbabwe’s most decorated army commander, was burnt to ashes last August in a mysterious inferno at his Ruzambo Farm in Beatrice and was declared a national hero. Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda told a full council meeting on Thursday that they were planning to honour esteemed members of society including Walter Kamba and Enock Dumbutshena.

“The suggestion was that Rotten Row road be named after Dumbutshena and Mt Pleasant Heights be named after Kamba. There is also a tabled plan to honour the late General Mujuru,” said Masunda.

He was responding to a question from Glen Norah councillor Herbet Gomba on what had happened to plans to honour Kamba and Dumbutshena and bestow “Freedom of the City” to those who had worked hard for the community. Masunda said council had done its part on the plan and was waiting for government to act.

He said it was important to honour eminent people like Dumbutshena as he was the first black judge in the post-independent Zimbabwe and worked in a professional manner until his death in 2000. He became Zimbabwe’s first black judge in 1980 and served as Chief Justice from 1984 to 1990.

Kamba, a prominent lawyer and one of the few black lawyers to practice in the then Rhodesia, died in 2007. He served as a legal advisor to the Zanu PF and PF-Zapu delegations at the Lancaster House Conference.

After independence, he served as principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe from 1981 to 1992 when he resigned after a controversial speech at a graduation ceremony, citing government interference and threats to academic freedom.

Gomba had asked Masunda why it was taking long to bestow on eminent members of the community the “Freedom of the City”. NewsDay