President Mnangagwa has urged Zimbabweans to remain
peaceful during this time of Covid-19 and avoid endangering the lives of other
citizens through illegal demonstrations to score cheap political mileage.
He said Covid-19 was real and no one was immune to the
virus. President Mnangagwa made these remarks at the burial of national hero
Cde Absolom Sikhosana at the National Heroes Acre yesterday.
“I wish once again to draw the attention to the nation to the
invisible enemy that has visited us in the form of coronavirus, also known as
Covid-19,” said President Mnangagwa.
“It is a real threat to us all and no one is safe or immune
from it. Let us keep adhering to the World Health Organisation guidelines for
preventing its spread. I want to end my remarks by reminding us to remain
united and to keep the peace. We must never endanger the lives of our people
through illegal, reckless and unwarranted demonstrations for political
grandstanding. We are one people, one nation, one Zimbabwe.”
President Mnangagwa’s remarks come in the wake of illegal
demonstrations staged by MDC-Alliance members in Warren Park, Harare last week.
Turning to Cde Sikhosana who succumbed to a heart ailment
in Bulawayo over the weekend, President Mnangagwa said Zanu-PF as a party had
lost a stalwart, patriot and a disciplined cadre.
He said the void left by the late national hero was
irreplaceable and the nation is poorer without him.
President Mnangagwa said Cde Sikhosana participated in the
liberation struggle and trade unionism during the colonial Rhodesia and in the
early years of independence.
“The late Cde Sikhosana was ours together, he belonged to
the larger family of comrades-in-arms from the liberation struggle and of his
fellow Zimbabweans in general,” said President Mnangagwa.
“We, thus, celebrate our late national hero’s goodness,
unassuming character and the journey of a life well-travelled. His indelible
leadership of the Youth League, which he chaperoned for a long time helped it
to transform it into a formidable vanguard of the ruling party. He endured
suffering at the hands of the white man while he laboured to acquire an
education and life supporting skills.”
President Mnangagwa said Cde Sikhosana’s oratory prowess
and organising skills landed him the post of regional organiser for the
Rhodesian Clothing and Garment Workers Union.
He said nationalist politics was risky business in the
early 1970s and only the brave young men and women of the calibre of Cde
Sikhosana could withstand the wrath and brutality of the white settler regime.
“Thus the late Cde Sikhosana bore the scars of his running
battles with the colonial administration, which hunted him down,” said the
President.
“He was arrested several times and subjected to severe
torture. Cde Sikhosana was not deterred by the regime’s brutal intimidation.
Instead, he mobilised many to thwart the regime’s nefarious machinations
including rejection of the Pearce Commission proposals.”
Cde Sikhosana was born on 26 October 1949 in Matobo
district under Chief Masuku in Matabeleland South province.
He did his primary education from 1956 to 1964 before
undertaking his secondary education from 1965 to 1968.
Cde Sikhosana’s upbringing was similar to that of his many
black peers whose parents struggled hard to secure a decent education for their
children under a hostile environment created by the white settlers. Herald
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