Zanu PF mourns national hero Mabuya
NATIONAL hero Colonel Kenny Ridzai Mabuya (Retired) was a pioneering stalwart of the liberation struggle who worked hard in the security sector to safeguard Zimbabwe’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
This was said by ZANU PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa yesterday during a press conference held at the ruling party’s headquarters in Harare.
Col Mabuya, whose Chimurenga name was Kenny Ridzai, died at West End Hospital in Harare on Tuesday after a short illness. He was 72.
Amb Mutsvangwa said the party was grateful to President Mnangagwa for conferring him national hero status.
“He is a pioneer of the liberation struggle, having gone to war at the age of 15.
“He is a person who worked with President Mnangagwa to set up the security system in the country. He also was one of the people who established the training corps in the country.
“This meant that we no longer relied on outside training mostly from China and other friendly countries,” said Amb Mutsvangwa.
“When I arrived at Tembwe, he was there and many cadres were fascinated to see a Ndebele-speaking person at the front, which encouraged the cadres, as they saw that ZANLA was an inclusive army. This gave confidence to many, like myself, as I was also accompanied by another Ndebele-speaking cadre.”
Meanwhile, the Government will meet with the Mabuya family today to decide on the national hero’s burial date.
In an interview, his son, Mr Kelvin Mabuya, said: “So far we don’t have an official arrangement for the burial date. However, we were visited by the Minister of Defence, Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, with a request from the Government side for us to consider burying our father on Wednesday.”
The family, he said, was going to convene a meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage today to agree on the official arrangements. “We are still to come up with a date. Tomorrow (today), we are going to meet officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to map the way forward.
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