Cecil John Rhodes’s grave in Zimbabwe is reportedly under threat after ruling Zanu-PF activists in the country’s second largest city Bulawayo vowed to force its removal from its place in Matopo Hills.
This comes as University of Cape Town students are demanding to have Rhodes’s statue at the campus removed because of its “historic and strategic significance”.
Rhodes, 1853-1902, was a British colonialist, businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa. He founded Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) which was named after him in 1895.
According to New zimbabwe.com, the Zanu-PF activists said Rhodes’s remains on Zimbabwean soil served no purpose other than being a place his white descendents frequented to adore his land-grabbing exploits.
@OnlyAfricaFacts Grave of colonial master Cecil Rhodes (d. 1902) within the Malindidzimu Shrine in Matopos Hills Zimbabwe.Tourist site pic.twitter.com/aSww1ZSDZH
“We strongly support what is happening in South Africa… We are blacks who believe in amadlozi [forefather]…. We cannot stand seeing whites coming from abroad every day to honour and conduct rituals before their ancestor who is here buried on our own land,” Zanu-PF activist Zweli Malinga was quoted as saying.
@teldah wrote In Solidarity with Rhodes students, Zanu-PF activists say they want Cecil Rhodes grave removed from Zimbabwe #RhodesMustFall #RhodesSoWhite
This is not the first time that activists from the ruling party have called for the removal of Rhodes’s remains.
War veterans in 2012 pushed for Rhodes’s remains to be returned to the UK, blaming them for a lack of rain in the area.
@majawonke wrote Cecil Rhodes grave blamed for witching tribal lands in Zimbabwe in matopo hill for lack of rains Lol now S.A #RhodesSoWhite #RhodesMustFall
However, President Robert Mugabe’s officials at the time moved swiftly to block the exhumation, saying Rhodes’s legacy was part of the country’s history, according to The Telegraph.
The self-chosen burial place of the Oxford-educated mining magnate still attracts thousands of visitors each year, bringing much-needed tourism revenue to the area.
GAZA-TSHISA NEWSROOM 