Bondo declared liberation hero
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has conferred liberation hero status on Cde Nyamayedenga Bondo who died in 1979, but whose remains were only exhumed on February 7, 2024 in Tayengwa Dzokoto Village, under the jurisdiction of Chief Saunyama in Nyanga District.
His remains are at Mt Darwin Hospital mortuary pending a decent burial on March 1.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr Martin Rushwaya dated February 15, Zanu PF Secretary-General Dr Obert Mpofu confirmed President Mnangagwa’s conferment of liberation hero status on Cde Bondo.
“His Excellency, the President and First Secretary of ZANU PF, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa has conferred a posthumous liberation hero status to the late Cde Nyamayedenga Bondo who died in 1979 and his remains were exhumed February 7, 2024 at Tayengwa Dzokoto Village under Chief Saunyama in Nyanga District,” said Dr Mpofu in the letter.
“The remains of the deceased are in Mt Darwin Hospital waiting for decent burial. The family can be contacted through our Mashonaland Central Provincial Office. I shall be most grateful if you would make the usual payment of benefits to his family. He is from Mashonaland Central Province.”
Cde Bondo died in action at the height of the liberation struggle, but his remains had not yet been recovered until his former war time colleagues, Cde Dorcas Chairuka (Gladys Chimurenga), Cde Leo Muringaniza (Titos Dzino) and Cde Christopher
Bondo embarked on a mission to give their fallen comrade, a decent burial.
They were led to his remains by Naume Bondo who was under the guidance of a spirit medium.
President Mnangagwa has been correcting Zimbabwe’s historical omissions by bestowing honour to deserving heroes who were previously overlooked.
Under President Mnangagwa, National Hero statuses were also accorded posthumously to the late Cdes James Chikerema, the first ZAPU vice president and ZANU’s founding leader, the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole.
In the past, some of the country’s heroes were negatively portrayed as villains while colonisers like Cecil John Rhodes were honoured through monuments, but that historical aberration is being corrected by the Second Republic.