THE Deputy Minister of Defence and War Veterans’ Affairs,
Cde Victor Matemadanda, yesterday said Cde Robert Mugabe’s family had no right
to bar him from attending the former leader’s funeral because Government
protocol allows him to.
This comes after Cde Mugabe’s family reportedly requested
that Cde Matemadanda and Defence and War Veterans’ Affairs Minister Cde Oppah
Muchinguri-Kashiri should not attend Cde Mugabe’s funeral.
Cde Mugabe passed away in Singapore at the age of 95 on
Friday last week and will be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre on Sunday.
Addressing war veterans and church leaders at a Zimbabwe
Amalgamated Churches (ZACC) meeting in Bulawayo yesterday, Cde Matemadanda, who
is also the Zanu-PF National Political Commissar, said while it was not a big
issue to him, the family had no right to stop him from attending the funeral.
“For as long as the family has agreed that Cde Mugabe is a
national hero, they can’t stop me because Government protocol allows me to
attend the funeral. They don’t know what they’re talking about.
“I will not join a fight over a dead man. Where I come from
we don’t brag over the dead but we mourn them,” said Cde Matemadanda.
He said in African culture, it was taboo to fight before a
family member has been buried.
“I don’t know what the elders in Cde Mugabe’s community in
Zvimba say about this. But this person whose funeral they’re refusing to let me
attend forgave the people who jailed and tortured him during the liberation
struggle,” said Cde Matemadanda.
He said he was convinced that whatever he told Cde Mugabe
when they disagreed was not based on gossip or hearsay but the truth.
“For those who may not know, when I started resisting what
our leader was doing, I did not just do it. We actually spoke about it.
Unfortunately he’s gone and he’s not here to testify.
“I booked an appointment with him and I told him that I was
not in agreement with some of the things he was doing. We spoke at length,”
said Cde Matemadanda.
“I worked under Cde Mugabe for a long time and people who
are saying I should not attend his funeral don’t know when I started working
with him. Although I was low in the party, I worked with Cde Mugabe at critical
stages of the revolution where they didn’t come themselves to defend their own.
We could not by principle allow him free rein when we knew that we had not
agreed on some of the things that were now happening in the party”.
He said after all has been said and done, Cde Mugabe
remains his leader together with those who served under him.
“Even when we disagreed on some issues, we never doubted
his capacity, leadership qualities and his contribution to the liberation
struggle and the development of the country. But when the truth has to be said,
we should not bury our heads in the sand,” Cde Matemadanda said.
Cde Matemadanda was in 2016 arrested with other war
veterans on charges of undermining the authority of the then President Mugabe. Chronicle
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