North Korean statues open wounds in Zim

HARARE – The two North Korean-made statues were meant to honour a national hero but people were so offended because of Pyongyang’s links to a blood-soaked chapter of Zimbabwe’s history that one was taken down almost immediately and the other has not been erected.

Besides, at least one of them didn’t even resemble Joshua Nkomo, a former guerrilla leader known as ‘Father Zimbabwe’ who died in 1999 at the age of 82.That the statues were designed and made by North Koreans is an affront to Zimbabweans who blame North Korean-trained troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe for massacring thousands of civilians as the government tried to crush an uprising led by Nkomo in the 1980s. The uprising ended when Nkomo signed a unity pact in 1987 and became a vice president.No offence was intended by the choice of North Korea to make the statues, Godfrey Mahachi, head of the state National Museums and Monuments, told The Associated Press. He said North Korea was chosen simply because it won the bid for the work, promising favourable prices.One of the Nkomo statues was erected briefly last month in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-biggest city.The other statue was to have been placed in the capital, Harare, outside an office tower known as Karigamombe.Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said that despite the kerfuffle, the North Koreans have been paid their $600 000 for the two statues, state media reported. – Nampa-AP

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