News / National
'Enos Nkala is a hero,' says Mugabe
22 Aug 2013 at 08:34hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday mourned veteran nationalist Enos Nkala, who passed on in Harare, describing him as a great, staunch, unyielding and dependable liberation war fighter whose death is a great loss to the nation.Nkala - a founding Zanu nationalist, longtime close friend of President Mugabe and former Cabinet minister - died at a private hospital in
Harare yesterday morning from a complicated ailment that saw his heart and kidneys failing.
He was 81.
Family spokesperson, Mr Herbert Nkala, said his uncle had been admitted to the clinic for the past 10 days.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces told journalists at State House last night that he visited Nkala in hospital on Tuesday night and little did he know that he was bidding him farewell.
"I said 'Enos, Enos, ndauya' and he opened his eyes and seemed to acknowledge my presence. I inquired from the doctor and he said his condition was very complicated.
"His heart was weak and no longer pumping blood in the normal way. There was a collapse of both the heart and the kidneys. I did not know that my visit to him will be a kind of farewell," President Mugabe said.
"He is a great fighter for our liberation. Very, very staunch fighter, unyielding, dependable, and a good fighter. Well, perhaps at his age, born in the 1930s, his body was bound to give in.
"I want to say to his family, his wife and children that I am very, very, sorry at their loss which is our loss together. The work that their husband and father has done was not in vain."
President Mugabe narrated the key roles played by Nkala in the formation of the National Democratic Party and later Zanu, political organisations that executed the liberation struggle.
"We will be discussing what to do with him. I am sure he will be buried at the National Heroes Acre. If a person like him is not buried there, then no one else qualifies.
"We want to see him well buried, well honoured. It is a very sad loss. I will miss him as a great friend. It is a very sad loss to all of us in Zanu-PF. We were shocked by his death," President Mugabe said.
Vice President Joice Mujuru described Nkala, Zimbabwe's first finance minister, as a liberation icon who inspired many young people to join the liberation struggle.
"He is one of the nationalists that also contributed to my being during the struggle, an icon of the revolution," she said.
Nkala, a former home affairs and defence minister, was transferred from Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo to a private hospital in Harare after his condition worsened.
His liberation war credentials date back to the 1960s when the struggle for independence was in its infancy.
Mr Herbert Nkala described the late nationalist as an outstanding person who left behind a great legacy.
"He was quite an outstanding person who went through a lot in his life, during the liberation struggle up to his time in government as a Cabinet minister," Mr Nkala said.
Harare yesterday morning from a complicated ailment that saw his heart and kidneys failing.
He was 81.
Family spokesperson, Mr Herbert Nkala, said his uncle had been admitted to the clinic for the past 10 days.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces told journalists at State House last night that he visited Nkala in hospital on Tuesday night and little did he know that he was bidding him farewell.
"I said 'Enos, Enos, ndauya' and he opened his eyes and seemed to acknowledge my presence. I inquired from the doctor and he said his condition was very complicated.
"His heart was weak and no longer pumping blood in the normal way. There was a collapse of both the heart and the kidneys. I did not know that my visit to him will be a kind of farewell," President Mugabe said.
"He is a great fighter for our liberation. Very, very staunch fighter, unyielding, dependable, and a good fighter. Well, perhaps at his age, born in the 1930s, his body was bound to give in.
"I want to say to his family, his wife and children that I am very, very, sorry at their loss which is our loss together. The work that their husband and father has done was not in vain."
President Mugabe narrated the key roles played by Nkala in the formation of the National Democratic Party and later Zanu, political organisations that executed the liberation struggle.
"We will be discussing what to do with him. I am sure he will be buried at the National Heroes Acre. If a person like him is not buried there, then no one else qualifies.
"We want to see him well buried, well honoured. It is a very sad loss. I will miss him as a great friend. It is a very sad loss to all of us in Zanu-PF. We were shocked by his death," President Mugabe said.
Vice President Joice Mujuru described Nkala, Zimbabwe's first finance minister, as a liberation icon who inspired many young people to join the liberation struggle.
"He is one of the nationalists that also contributed to my being during the struggle, an icon of the revolution," she said.
Nkala, a former home affairs and defence minister, was transferred from Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo to a private hospital in Harare after his condition worsened.
His liberation war credentials date back to the 1960s when the struggle for independence was in its infancy.
Mr Herbert Nkala described the late nationalist as an outstanding person who left behind a great legacy.
"He was quite an outstanding person who went through a lot in his life, during the liberation struggle up to his time in government as a Cabinet minister," Mr Nkala said.
Source - herald
