National hero Major-General Trust Mugoba was a
distinguished fighter who remained unwavering to the revolution throughout his
life, President Mnangagwa has said.
The Head of State and Government said this at Maj-Gen
Mugoba’s Greendale, Harare, residence yesterday, where he had gone to convey
his condolences ahead of burial today at the National Heroes Acre.
Thousands of people are expected to throng the national
shrine for the burial, where President Mnangagwa is expected to deliver the
keynote address.
Maj-Gen Mugoba, whose Chimurenga name was Joseph Zulu, died
at the Avenues Clinic last Friday after a short illness. He was 60.
Speaking at the Mugoba residence, President Mnangagwa said
Maj-Gen Mugoba executed his military duties with precision and beyond reproach,
resulting in his secondment to the African Union (AU) where he was Chief of
Staff in the Office of the Commission on Peace and Security in Africa.
“He was a distinguished fighter,” he said.
“When we met as the Zanu-PF Politburo to consider his hero
status, everyone was impressed by reports of his illustrious career. The
decision was unanimous, not even a single dissent was heard during our
meeting.”
President Mnangagwa said he received the message of the
passing on of Maj-Gen Mugoba last Friday from South Africa at around 9am after
he had received news on the death of former President Mugabe early that morning
from Director General in the President’s Office, Mr Isaac Moyo.
“I had to approach my colleague (South African president)
Cyril Ramaphosa that I had received sad news and will not be able to continue
with the World Economic Forum meeting that was ongoing,” he said. “I was not
aware that Maj Gen Mugoba had come to Harare, but I had last met him in
Ethiopia where he accompanied me to the airport.
“He was quite fit when I last met him, but he complained
that he sometimes fell short of breath and said probably it was because of the
high altitude of Ethiopia where he was residing.”
President Mnangagwa chronicled several military incidents
where Maj Gen excelled dating back to the liberation struggle.
One of the incidents occurred soon after independence where
Maj Gen Mugoba led soldiers to repel assaults by the Mozambique National
Resistance on Zimbabwe’s fuel pipeline running from Beira to Mutare.
Another incident was the Democratic Republic of Congo
campaign where that country’s former leader, Laurent Kabila, called for help
from Zimbabwe and other SADC countries.
“We held several meetings with service chiefs to organise
the DRC campaign and Maj Gen Mugoba was one of them, but he was quite young,
but fearless,” said President Mnangagwa. Herald
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