Zanu-PF monopolising the declaration of national heroes - Tsvangirai

Movement for Democratic Change president, Morgan Tsvangirai, yesterday accused Zanu-PF of monopolising the declaration of national heroes.

Tsvangirai said the war veterans, largely viewed as President Mugabe's pillar, played a key role in the formation of the MDC. He added that without the support of the war veterans the MDC might not have been formed.

Tsvangirai made the remarks at the burial of Tichaona Mudzingwa, his party's non-constituency Senator and Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development, at Glen Forest Cemetery outside Harare, NewsDay reported.

"We are in agreement that the man lying there is a national hero, an icon, not just of the liberation struggle, but an icon of a new democratic struggle," said Tsvangirai.

"If I had my way, it doesn't take time to bestow national hero status on Mudzingwa. He worked for it, he earned it. The problem is, it's a political culture which I think the people in the MDC have been fighting for years that if you belong to a different political party, you are an enemy, a political culture that believes all should think the same. That's the political culture we have to change."

MDC-T has said senator Tichaona Mudzingwa, who died last week, must have been declared a national hero for his contribution during the liberation struggle.

Ousted former Zanu-PF Marondera East MP and deputy minister of Labour Tracy Mutinhiri and Senate President Edna Madzongwe attended the burial.