Double Burial for National Heroes
January 18, 2021
Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba (60) and founding nationalist and Zanu PF Central Committee member Cde Morton Dizzy Paul Malianga (91), who died last week, are likely to be buried at the National Heroes Acre on the same day.
Dr Gwaradzimba succumbed to Covid-19, while Cde Malianga (91) had been ill for some time.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Mr Aaron Nhepera, yesterday confirmed the possibility of a double burial ceremony, with arrangements now being made and recommendations given. However, no final decisions have been made yet.
In Mozambique, Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are under siege. There is a rapidly shrinking of the democratic and civil society spaces with implications on Human Rights and Defenders. The brutal daylight murder of Anastácio Matavel in Xai-Xai, Gaza Province in October just before the national election is symptomatic of a wider, coordinated and well-organised strategy to silence political activists, HRDs and journalist in Mozambique. Evidence at hand has unequivocally shown that the five agents who participated in the murder of Anastácio Matavel were part of a coordinated State operation. It has also been shown that the weapons used to commit the crime were taken from the police arsenal in Gaza. There is also evidence of police meetings held to plan and prepare the execution of Matavel. Since the murder last October, the known assailants are still to be held accountable for the heinous murder, with some of the agents, having been promoted to higher ranks in the Mozambique Republic Po