Bikita East MP Matimba dies

ZANU-PF Central Committee member and Bikita East Member of Parliament Cde Kennedy Matimba has died. He was 66. Cde Matimba died on Tuesday night at Makurira Memorial Clinic in Masvingo after a short illness.

ZANU-PF Chief Whip and Politburo member Cde Lovemore Matuke on Wednesday confirmed Cde Matimba’s death.

“Yes, we have just received the sad news on the death of Cde Matimba,” he said. “It is a very sad day for the people of Bikita, the entire ZANU-PF family in Masvingo Province and indeed the nation at large.

“His death came unexpectedly and we are in deep shock. We are going to meet his family members in Bikita today and thereafter the ZANU-PF leadership will meet to map the way forward.”

Zaka West Member of Parliament Cde Vincent Mawere said Bikita had been left poorer without Cde Matimba.

“We have just learnt of the tragic loss of a dedicated leader who was also a brother to me, Cde Matimba,” he said.

“What a blow to the Matimba family, the people of Bikita and Masvingo province at large.”

Cde Mawere said ZANU-PF lost a dedicated cadre and revolutionary who never wavered from the party line.

“What a blow to our struggle for complete emancipation,” he said. “I can’t believe that Cde Matimba is no more,” he said.

Cde Mawere said Cde Matimba deserved to be accorded a national hero status for the role he played in the development of Zimbabwe from the pre-independence era.

“As the party (ZANU-PF), we are going to meet and write a letter to the national party leadership requesting that Cde Matimba be conferred with national hero status considering the work he did before and after independence,” Cde Mawere said.

Cde Matimba was the first chairperson for Bikita Rural Council, he was again the first president of the Association of the Rural District Councils of Zimbabwe.

He was a ZANU-PF Central Committee member for 20 years.

Cde Matimba was elected Bikita East Member of Parliament in 2005.

He is survived by a wife and four children.