Mbizi Station Heritage Bid: Highfield Community Called to Shape History

Highfield residents are invited to a public consultation on the proposed designation of Mbizi Police Station as a Liberation Heritage Site, as NMMZ seeks community input to preserve Zimbabwe’s liberation history (image source)

In a pivotal moment for Zimbabwe’s heritage preservation efforts, the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), working alongside the Southerton Constituency Development Trust, will this weekend convene a public consultation to deliberate on the proposed elevation of Mbizi Police Station to Liberation Heritage Site status. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, 17 January 2026, starting at 10:00 AM, at the historic Cyril Jennings Hall in Highfield.

Highfield occupies a central place in Zimbabwe’s liberation history and is widely regarded as the cradle of nationalist resistance. Mbizi Police Station stands at the heart of that story, not merely as a physical structure but as a silent witness to decades of repression, resistance, resilience and political awakening. Momentum has been building behind efforts to formally gazette the station as a national heritage site, and the upcoming meeting is intended to root that process firmly within the community itself. Officials from NMMZ and the Southerton Constituency Development Trust are expected to outline proposed rehabilitation plans, detailing how the site would be preserved, restored and protected while maintaining its historical authenticity.

Cyril Jennings Hall in Highfield (image source)

Organisers have stressed that the consultation is not intended to be a purely technical exercise. Central to the process is the gathering of memory and lived experience. Community members — particularly elders, liberation war veterans and long-time residents — are being encouraged to attend and share their personal recollections of Mbizi Police Station during the liberation era. These testimonies, described by organisers as “living intelligence,” are viewed as essential to ensuring that the site reflects both the historical facts and the emotional weight associated with it. The meeting aims to explore what occurred at the site, what should be remembered, and how that history should be presented to future generations.

The consultation represents an opportunity for collective historical authorship, allowing Highfield residents to directly shape how their past is preserved and interpreted. Organisers argue that heritage divorced from community memory risks becoming hollow, regardless of its physical preservation. For Mbizi Police Station to stand as an authentic monument to the liberation struggle, the voices of those who lived that history must inform its narrative.

As the meeting approaches, residents of Southerton and Highfield are being urged to treat attendance as a civic responsibility. Properly developed heritage sites can become cultural, educational and economic anchors for their communities, supporting tourism, learning and local pride. Saturday’s gathering offers residents a rare opportunity to ensure Mbizi’s legacy is secured with dignity, accuracy and depth, and that history is not written about the community without the community itself.