Minister David Coltart calls for halls of fame

News Day

By Khanyile Mlotshwa

28 December 2012

Contributing to the debate sparked by the failed bid to declare the late soccer star Adam Ndlovu a hero, Coltart wrote on the social network Facebook that the country should honour its celebrated citizens during their lifetime.

“The main point I made when speaking at Adam Ndlovu’s funeral was that we need to devise a policy to honour sportspersons during their lifetime,” the minister said.

“The same of course goes for our artistic and cultural icons as well. The United States has Halls of Fame, the United Kingdom awards knighthoods, why not Zimbabwe?”

Deputy Prime Minister and MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe’s request to have Ndlovu declared a national hero was turned down.

Speaking at the burial of the late Nketa MP Seiso Moyo on Monday, Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo also took the opportunity to contribute to the heroism debate in the country.

“What will happen to the heroes’ issue when all nationalists have died?,” he asked. “The truth is that you (nationalists) will die. What is amazing is the question of heroes in this country. A hero should be someone who sacrificed for the nation at the expense of the family.

“But in this country, the tragedy is that we have a homegrown dictionary that gives us a definition of a hero as someone who went to a war, which is unfortunate. Don’t be surprised tomorrow when the young generation closes the Heroes’ Acre because the nationalists have failed to define the right path on the issue.”

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