Imagine over 20 000 of your supporters brutally murdered by a team of crack soldiers trained in North Korea and then, 11 years after your death, a statue 'honouring' you is made in North Korea to be erected in Zimbabwe. Joshua Nkomo, the father figure of Zimbabwean politics, must be turning in his grave at the National Heroes Acre, over what his former rivals in ZANU PF are plotting.

Nkomo's family and supporters of his old party ZAPU are up in arms over a decision to erect his statue at the Karigamombe Center in Harare. Not only do they regard it as an insult that the statue was reportedly made in North Korea, but the site has even worse connotations. Karigamombe is a Shona word meaning 'he who fells the bull by its horns' and Nkomo's ZAPU political party symbol was a bull.

Karigamombe over the years has come to be used as a term of celebration for Mugabe's perceived domination of ZAPU via, not only the Gukurahundi Massacres in which Nkomo's supporters were killed, but also a 1987 unity accord he signed with ZAPU to form the united ZANU PF.

The decision over the statue was made by the ZANU PF politburo and the MDC formations in the coalition government have said they know nothing about it. But despite criticism, by the end of the week it did not appear ZANU PF was back tracking on the project. Our correspondent reports seeing construction workers completing the pedestal on which the statue will stand.

Some activists have suggested the Africa Unity Square would be the most appropriate place to put the statue and Nkomo's daughter, Thandiwe, has slammed ex-PF ZAPU members for not standing up to defend her father's honour and demanding the relocation of the statue.