BULAWAYO residents woke up Friday to find this odd looking structure wrapped in a burka-like black cloth on a busy street.
Soon though, the covers will come off to reveal the unmistakable figure of the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, now immortalised in a statue.
The statue should have been unveiled on August 11, Heroes’ Day, but it was held back by delays in the delivery of the platform on which it now stands at the intersection of Main Street and Eighth Avenue – the exact spot where Cecil John Rhodes’ statue once stood.
It was put up overnight Thursday.
A second statue is due to be erected in Harare but that has run into trouble. The position designated by the Home Affairs Ministry at the Karigamombe Centre has been described as unsuitable by his family, and the Mining Industry Pension Fund – owners of the building – has weighed in by obtaining a court order blocking its erection.
No date has been set for the unveiling of the Bulawayo statue, although the Council says it would be “during this Heroes month”.