The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
In 1981, a year after Zimbabwe gained independence, the North Koreans built Heroes' Acre, a shrine for liberation war heroes.
Seven artists from North Korea and 10 from Zimbabwe designed the shrine, which is shaped in the form of an AK-47, split in half along its length.
The monument comprises three main sections: the tomb of the unknown soldier, the eternal flame and a mural depicting freedom fighters. The tomb comprises three bronze statues of three freedom fighters – two males and a female – holding AK-47s and the Zimbabwe flag. Near the tomb are two walls that carry murals detailing Zimbawe's march to liberation, starting with the "First Chimurenga" through to the liberation war and independence.
President Robert Mugabe features prominently on one of the walls, depicted as a brave leader marching ahead of the people, the flag fluttering behind him. The eternal flame, a commemoration of independence, burns on top of a 40m tower above the monument, and can be seen from many points across Harare.
However, the North Koreans' more recent work caused controversy. Government paid $600 000 for two statues to be made of Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwe's late vice-president and struggle icon. Nkomo, a long-time rival of Mugabe, died in 1999.
But the statue, in Bulawayo in Matebeleland province, had to be pulled down after Nkomo's family objected, saying it did not resemble him and, at three metres high, was far "too small and pitiful". Activists also said it revived painful memories of the Gukurahundi atrocities carried out in the 1980s by the Fifth Brigade, an army unit trained by North Koreans, that left more than 20 000 people dead.
At the time, activist Mlungisi Gumede said: "Anything from North Korea is not welcome in Matebeleland". The statue, erected in the city centre, was pulled down under cover of darkness.
Another statue is being built to replace it, and Newsday reported earlier this year that the North Korean company that made the first statue was expected to finalise the monument this month.