Sithole's family surprised by Mnangagwa's decision

GOVERNMENT's decision to not acknowledge or mourn late national hero Ndabaningi Sithole upon his death in 2000 had been hurting his family for the past 23 years, Sifiso Sithole Barrow has said.

Barrow, Sithole's daughter, said their family was surprised by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's decision to confer him with national hero status since the government seemed to have ignored her father's role in liberating Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa last year August posthumously conferred hero status on Sithole who was the first to lead Zanu on formation in 1963. Fellow liberation icon James Chikerema received the same honour.

The official process was conducted on Saturday at Sithole's Freedom Farm in Chipinge, his rural home.

"When somebody dies within a family, normally people come to mourn, these might be relatives, friends or neighbours. When Sithole died in 2000 no one came from government to mourn," Barrow told Voice of America's Studio 7.

"It is now 23 years since he passed away. It has hurt us as a family because even though he was not part of Zanu-PF he was part of the struggle that brought independence.

"We feel that government should have come and mourned with us. We are very frank people. This thing has surprised us as a family because we were hurting."

Sithole passed on in 2000 and was in constant crosshairs of late President Robert Mugabe, who at one point had him charged and convicted on charges of trying to assassinate him.

Mnangagwa, who said Sithole's conferment was part of his administration's duty to ‘give a holistic account of Zimbabwe's long war of liberation' was said to have opened a new chapter to their relationship.

Added Barrow: "We are very happy that they have realised that what they did to Sithole was not right.

"This will be the beginning of real healing because we need to put closure to this whole unfortunate situation, we welcome that.

"There are many other stages that need to take place, but this is the beginning, and we are very happy."

Sithole was denied hero status in 2000 based on his decision to form Zanu Ndonga after losing leadership of Zanu to Mugabe in 1975 and continuous fights mainly between the two. Surprisingly Mnangagwa sat in the Politburo meeting that refused to acknowledge his role in the war.

Zanu Ndonga maintained dominance in Chipinge, only losing its parliamentary seat five years after his passing.