Defence Minister delivers the letter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday conferred national hero
status on the late Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Dr
Ellen Gwaradzimba (60) and founding nationalist and Zanu PF Central Committee
member Cde Morton Dizzy Paul Malianga (91) who both died on Friday.
Dr Gwaradzimba succumbed to Covid-19 while Cde Malianga had
been unwell for some time.
Zanu PF National Chairperson, who is also Defence and War
Veterans Affairs Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, delivered the President’s
message to the Gwaradzimba and Malianga families at their respective Highlands
and Greystone Park homes in Harare yesterday.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said the two national heroes
would be buried at the National Heroes Acre on a date to be advised.
She said the President and the party saw it befitting to
honour the late comrades as national heroes for the contributions they made to
liberate the country.
The Ministries of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and
Health and Child Care had started working on the modalities and logistics on
how the burial of the two will be conducted.
Speaking at the late Cde Malianga’s home, Minister
Muchinguri-Kashiri described the late cadre as a towering figure who pioneered nationalist
politics in the 1950s.
Cde Malianga was founding president of the National
Democratic Party at its formation in 1959. After the NDP was banned in December
1961, he became Zapu Secretary for Public Affairs in 1961.
“He was an exemplary nationalist leader who pioneered the
struggle for our national independence. We will always reminisce on his
unwavering commitment to the self-determination of the black majority.”
In his speech to mourners, Mr Nyaradzai Mutondo, nephew to
Cde Malianga, thanked the Zanu PF leadership for recognising the journey that
was walked by his uncle.
Cde Malianga leaves behind wife, Effie Malianga and two
sons Paidamoyo and Waraidzo. Turning to Dr Gwaradzimba, Minister
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the late illustrious daughter of the soil was a
champion of development in Manicaland.
“She was a freedom fighter and long-time educationist and
passionate advocate for development, who will be remembered for her role in
wartime educational programmes with a number of leading cadres who developed
learning materials for refugees in camps,” she said.
Family representative Mr Afaras Mtausi Gwaradzimba thanked
the President and party for honouring Dr Gwaradzimba.
“We want to thank the party and the President for honouring
Dr Gwaradzimba in such a way and for recognising her contributions to the party
and country at large,” he said.
In a condolence message, the Ministry of Defence and War
Veterans Affairs paid tribute to Dr Gwaradzimba.
The Ministry said the late Dr Gwaradzimba, whose Chimurenga
name was Cde Shee Tapera, joined the liberation struggle in 1976.
She underwent military training in Tanzania at Nachigwea
Military Academy in 1977 and was deployed and operated in the Gaza province
that covered the South and South-Eastern regions of the country between 1977
and 1978 where she rose to detachment command level in the Provincial Command
structure.
After independence, Dr Gwaradzimba rose through the party
ranks to be a member of the Zanu PF Central Committee and Provincial
Chairperson of Manicaland province Women’s League. In 2018, she was elected
Senator for Manicaland province covering Mutare Central and North, Mutasa South
and Dangamvura-Chikanga constituencies.
Dr Gwaradzimba was appointed Manicaland Provincial Affairs
and Devolution Minister in 2018, a post she held until her untimely death.
In her illustrious professional career, she sat on several
corporate boards, among them the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, University of
Zimbabwe Council, Grain Marketing Board, Zimbabwe Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board and Zimpapers Board among others. She is survived by three
sons.
Zanu PF Women’s League Secretary Cde Mable Chinomona said
Dr Gwaradzimba’s “sudden death has left us in great shock and pain as the void
left is not easily replaceable.”
“Dr Gwaradzimba was instrumental in pushing for and
defending the Party position on Women and Youth at all stages of the
Constitution-making process by representing the Party in COPAC. Today the
country has a Women’s Quota reserved for Women in the National Assembly since
2013 in pursuit of the 50/50 gender equality goal across sectors and most
importantly in Leadership.
“As Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister,
she spearheaded various development programmes that have emancipated many
people in the province especially during the trying times of Cyclone Idai
wherein her astute leadership qualities demonstrated amazing levels of
patriotism, selflessness and love for her country and others ahead of herself.
“The country has lost a mother, leader and above all a
dedicated comrade who shall be dearly missed among us. We pray for God’s
strength and comfort to her family, colleagues and all who knew and worked with
her.”
Born on June 8, 1930, the late Cde Malianga hailed from a
politically active family.
From 1959 when he joined the Southern African National
Congress after completing his studies in South Africa, Cde Malianga would
successively be involved in the founding of the National Democratic Party, NDP,
the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) and the Zimbabwe African National
Union (Zanu), all the time assuming top leadership positions in these
organisations.
Arrested, detained and restricted continuously throughout
his active political life before independence, the late Cde Malianga, whose
brother Washington was deeply politically involved, never flinched from the
national cause, and was to travel far and wide agitating and canvassing for the
freedom of his people and the creation of a democratic, non-racial order in a
free Zimbabwe.
Cde Malianga was imprisoned from 1964 to 1974 for his
political activities.
After his release in 1974, he worked together with other
members of the Zanu Central Committee in a mobilisation campaign for the
liberation war. He also took part in the Victoria Falls, Geneva Conference and
Lancaster House Conference that led to the country’s independence in 1980.
In the first Parliament of Zimbabwe in 1980, Cde Malianga
was appointed Senator and became Deputy Minister of Economic Planning and
Development in 1981. Two years later, he became Deputy Minister of Finance,
Economic Planning and Development.
He was also appointed Deputy Minister of Industry and
Commerce in 1990 and was a Zanu PF Central Committee member until his death. Sunday
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