Zapu's Sandi Moyo denied hero status, to be buried on Wednesday

THE burial for the late former Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister, Eunice Sandi Moyo, who died at Mater Dei Hospital last Thursday, has been set for Wednesday.

Her daughter, Phoebe, confirmed the development but said finer details of the burial arrangements were being finalised.

"My mother will be laid to rest at Lady Stanley Cemetery on Wednesday. I can only give you the finer details of where the service will be held tomorrow afternoon (today). She will, however, lie in state at the family house and will depart for her final resting place at Lady Stanley," she said.

Sandi Moyo died at the age of 78 last Thursday at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo, where she was undergoing treatment for hypertension. She was accorded a State-assisted funeral by President Mnangagwa last Friday.

In his condolence message to the family, President Mnangagwa lauded the late Sandi Moyo as a pivotal figure in the Government's pursuit of inclusive development throughout the First Republic.

Sandi Moyo was born in Plumtree in 1946.

As a professional teacher before joining politics in an endeavour to help liberate the country from colonial rule, the late Sandi Moyo wanted to empower women in a way that would catapult them to dizzying heights in a male-dominated environment.

In one of her interviews with The Chronicle in 1990s, she said her father's objection to her being involved in politics presented a challenge in itself.

She also recalled when she was five, when her family moved to South Africa where her father was working. Her first school was at De Aar in the Cape Province before moving to Barkley Road High School. She then spent two years at Gore-Brown College training to be a teacher.

The late Sandi Moyo taught at several schools in Bulilima-Mangwe before she became actively involved in campaigns to improve the conditions of teachers under colonial rule.

In 1969, when the then Ministry of Education abolished Grade three teachers and enrolled pupils into either Grades One or Four classes, teachers were not amused and she and her colleagues helped freedom fighters find grip in rural areas.

A protest campaign was then organised during which several teachers were arrested. However, some retrenched teachers volunteered to fill the void.

That incident was a landmark experience in Sandi Moyo's political career and later on she was involved in organising clandestine meetings and collaborated with freedom fighters.

In 1973 she moved to Bulawayo and joined the city council. Two years later she left for Zambia to join the liberation struggle.

Sandi Moyo's political career progressed as she worked her way through the ranks to become a revolutionary and central committee member of ZAPU.

Sandi Moyo would travel extensively overseas on party business. In 1977 she was sent to Germany for an industrial relations course, before becoming a member of the ZAPU delegation to the Lancaster House Conference, which culminated in Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.

At Independence Sandi Moyo was appointed to run the Umguza complex, which included a technical college, farms, and cooperatives.

Later the late Sandi Moyo and a handful of businesswomen got together and launched the Women in Business Zimbabwe. The organisation removed one of the biggest stumbling blocks for women aspiring to go into business – the demand for collateral security.

The late Sandi Moyo served as president of the Bulawayo Chapter of the Child Survival Development, and also sat on the Indigenous Business Development Centre board, before chairing the national committee of buildings and properties of the YWCA. She was the only executive member of the Jairos Jiri Association.

The late former minister is survived by four daughters and a son. Mourners are gathered at House Number 17, Onslow Road, Sunninghill suburb in Bulawayo.