dyton mupawaenda
Joseph Madzimure-Zimpapers Political Hub
ZANU PF United Kingdom District has appealed to the party leadership to confer national hero status on Retired Brigadier-General Lameck Francisco Mutanda, whose Chimurenga name was Cde Kamhiripiri.
He died on Wednesday May 22, this year in Bradford following a considerable period of being unwell as he was visiting his family in the UK.
Rtd Brig Gen Mutanda was a highly decorated liberation war veteran who joined the war against colonialism in 1975 as a young man and went on to serve Zimbabwe after independence in several capacities, including the Zimbabwe National Army until his retirement as a Brigadier-General.
He was also a member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association and an active member of Zanu PF UK District, which he supported as an advisor, trained and guided members on the values and ideology of the revolutionary party.
Brig Gen Mutanda (Rtd) has a well-documented history of participating in the liberation war as well as his service to Independent Zimbabwe. He crossed into Mozambique to join the liberation war in 1975, stationed at Nyadzonia and Doroi, before going to Tembwe Base for his military training.
He stayed at Tembwe until being posted for further military training in intelligence and counter-intelligence in Romania and Yugoslavia, returning to Mozambique upon completion of training. He was deployed to the front and operated around Murewa District during the liberation struggle.
He was one of the cadres who escorted and provided security to the late President Robert Gabriel Mugabe upon his return to Zimbabwe in preparation for the general elections following the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.
Between 1980-1981, he served as the information officer to the late President Canaan Banana before being attested into the Zimbabwe National Army on 2 February 1982. Between 1982 and 1983, he was deployed to Korea and Russia for further intelligence training.
From 1984 to 1986, he was posted to France, leading to him being part of the exchange military group to Martinique.
From 1986 to 1990 he was stationed at ZIC Kabrit Barracks as a Major, becoming Lieutenant Colonel before being posted to Ethiopia in 1990 to 1995 as the Military Attache.
He supported the exit of the then Ethiopian President Mengistu from the country when it became necessary to do so. While in Ethiopia he trained as a pilot and attained his full wings. Rtd Brig Gen Mutanda was posted to South Africa in 1995 as a Military Attache and was later selected by the United Nations to work on the Commission of Inquiry on the Rwanda Genocide of 1994.
He served in the Democratic Republic of Congo before returning to Zimbabwe to work as ZNA Spokesman while serving as a Director of Military Intelligence until his retirement.
Online Reporter