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All set for Edgar Zivanayi Tekere burial

by Bhebhe Mandla
11 Jun 2011 at 13:53hrs | Views
Announcing transport arrangements for the burial, Acting Harare Metropolitan Province Governor, Alfred Tome said 20 buses have been availed for Harare province at the usual pick up points,state controlled ZBC News reported on Saturday.

10 buses have been set aside for Manicaland province while each province will get five buses.

The Secretary General for the Harare Province War Veterans' Association, Claudius Mutero and Zanu PF Women's League Deputy Secretary for Security, Margaret Sithole urged people to come in their numbers and give a befitting sendoff to a gallant freedom fighter.

Edgar Zivanayi Tekere, who is a founder member of ZANU passed away on Tuesday at Murambi garden clinic in Mutare at the age of 74 and was declared a national hero.

His death touched the hearts of many people he associated with.

For Ambuya Francesca Muchena of Mabvuku, the conferment of a national hero's status to the late Edgar Tekere is a fulfilment of what he worked for his entire life in the struggle.

Mbuya Muchena, who worked as a svikiro, said his first encounter with the late national hero was in the 1970s in Chief Rekayi Tangwena's area in Nyanga where she performed various traditional rituals for the protection of the comrades in the trenches.

Acting under Chief Tangwena's instructions, Mbuya Muchena worked closely with the late national hero, whom he described as a staunch believer in the role of medium spirits in the struggle.

She emotionally chronicles her encounter with the revolutionary icon.

"I am a traditionalist and I worked with the late Tekere, who understood and cherished our role as svikiros in the struggle. He supported us fully but most of all he was candid, honesty and not corrupt. The fact that he was declared a national hero is clear testimony of his greatest contribution to the liberation struggle," said Mbuya Muchena.

Even after independence, Mbuya Muchena said they interacted regularly and performed traditional dances at various occasions with Tekere being very supportive.

She remembers vividly the support she got from Tekere to fend for her 16 children.

"I have 16 children and he always wondered why I was having so many children but he always supported me," she added.

Mbuya Magna Chanaiwa of Highfield, Harare says she first met the late national hero Edgar Tekere in the 1960s when they used to hold meetings at Cyril Jennings Hall with other early nationalists.

She said he was highly temperamental and focussed, and to her he is a hero of heroes.

Born on the 1st of April 1937, Tekere was among the founders of Zanu on the 8th of August 1963.

His contributions in the struggle and after independence have remained critical in Zimbabwe's liberation war history.

Source - ZBC