Tomb of Cecil Rhodes under threat as Zimbabwean politician demands Rhodes be exhumed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-exhumed.html
Bones of Cecil Rhodes are an insult to our ancestors: Zimbabwe official demands remains are exhumed and sent back to Britain
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daily Mail
A Zimbabwean politician has demanded the body of Cecil Rhodes is exhumed and sent back to Britain as it is an insult to the country's citizens. Rhodesia, founded by and named for Rhodes, became the Republic of Zimbabwe in 1980. Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema said it was offensive that the Oxford-educated former mining magnate was still buried on Zimbabwean soil three decades after the country was granted independence from Britain. Rhodes was laid to rest in 1902 in territory then belonging to the young country of Rhodesia which he had founded just seven years earlier in his own name.
But Mr Mathema, a member of president Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party, said Zimbabweans should feel insulted by the presence of the tycoon's grave in their soil. In comments reported by the country's Sunday News, he said: 'I wonder why 30 years after independence Rhodes' grave is still found on the country's traditional shrine of worship. 'It's an insult to our ancestors and maybe that is the reason why our ancestors at Njelele, where we pray for rain, are no longer giving us enough rain.
'My call is not directed against Britain or whites, but against symbols that persecuted our people and took away our freedom and wealth. 'For I believe that physical freedom goes hand-in-hand with psychological freedom. We need to celebrate our own heroes and heroines. 'We do not get inspiration from the likes of Rhodes, so why should we visit their graves and their statues?'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daily Mail
Rhodes, who was born in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, became one of Britain's most successful colonialists after being sent to southern Africa in the late nineteenth century when he suffered bad health as a teenager. Within four decades he had established political control of Britain's Cape Colony, expanded the territory north to found Rhodesia and taken ownership of the world's richest diamond mining company De Beers. His expansionist plans were fired by a dream of securing a British corridor of power stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.
But his short life was blighted by bad health and he was buried amid great fanfare after his death of heart failure aged just 49. Following his demise Rhodes' remains were transported by train from Cape Town to Bulawayo and laid to rest in the Matopo Hills south of the city, his favourite spot in the vast empire he had helped secure for Britain in southern Africa.
I'm sick of Great Britain being treated like dirt when we have given most to the modern world more so than any other country, this crackpot talks about drought - has it not occured to him and his Zanu-PF scum that their people are dying thanks to the purge of the white farmer which kept Africa fed and made Rhodesia the breadbasket of Africa?
If he wants to return the bones then so be it, a shame for Rhodes who loved Africa and is one of Britains greatest men;- but perhaps Mr Mathema would also like to remove the countless beautiful bridges the British built, rip up our vast train lines, destroy whats left of the sewerage system we built, knock down the fantastic buildings the remaining schools and universities are housed in which we the British built - and ontop of that, he could return our foreign aid that we've been giving to this vile regime for the past few decades (would you believe we still give Mugabe foreign aid!?)
Or why not just go back to before the British arrived in Africa and formed Rhodesia, so what I mean by that is to dismantle Zimbabwe completely and return to tribes in the jungle and on the savanna having nothing to show for it - something which it appears many in Zanu-PF and other tinpot African regimes seem intent on doing. Cecil Rhodes died a hero after establishing successful British colonies and providing food and employment for the poorest parts of the world.. Robert Mugabe on the other hand will die a man who has destroyed what was one of the most successful countries in the world thus condeming his people to a life of misery.
What chance does Africa stand with these people running it?
Thoughts?
