Zanu-PF admits Malianga neglect, to reconsider hero status

The emotive issue of the conferment of national hero status to Zimbabwean luminaries reared its provocative head once again following Zanu-PF's failure to accord the honour to another struggle stalwart, Washington Malianga.

In his graveside eulogy at the burial of Malianga who died Sunday aged 88, Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo admitted that the former guerrilla movement has neglected its some of its top cadres.

"As Zanu-PF we have failed, we have not done enough or that which is expected of us to look after the welfare of our struggle icons," said Gumbo.

Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa immediately ordered Gumbo to embark on a programme to document the history of "forgotten heroes".

Malianga was born in Manicaland in 1926, the third child in a family of nine boys and one girl.

He was accorded a state assisted funeral. He was never married.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF Manicaland provincial chairperson John Mvundura yesterday said his executive was going to write to the politburo seeking the posthumous conferment of national hero status to the late party founding member Washington Malianga.

Mvundura told NewsDay at the burial of Malianga at Warren Hills cemetery in Harare that the request would be made soon.

Malianga, a former Zanu-PF spokesperson, died on Sunday at the age of 88 and received a State-assisted funeral.

The veteran nationalist started his political career in the 1960s when he joined the National Democratic Party (NDP), and later founded Zapu before he subsequently moved to form Zanu with others after the split of the former.

Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo, in his graveside speech, bemoaned the ruling party's failure to properly document the liberation struggle history and its actors.