Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
VETERAN nationalist, Cde Elliot Ngwabi, who succumbed to Covid-19 last Saturday, has been declared a liberation hero.
Cde Ngwabi (85) died at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he was admitted and will be buried today at his rural home in Esiphezini (Mabindisa village) in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland South province.
He was among the four heroic freedom fighters who dramatically escaped from the tightly guarded Grey Street Prison — now Bulawayo Prison — in 1965.
Cde Ngwabi whose war name was Cde Okello, was part of the six combatants who launched an attack at Zidube Ranch in Kezi, Matobo District in Matabeleland South in September 1964 during the liberation struggle.
The attack, carried out on September 12, 1964, was the first attack by Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army ZPRA) cadres and signalled the start of the Second Umvukela/ Chimurenga.
Cde Ngwabi dramatically escaped from prison in January 1965 in the company of three other combatants, Cdes Moffat Hadebe, Key Nkala and Clark Ngiyo Mpofu. Cdes Nkala and Mpofu are both late.
The quartet had been detained at Gwanda Prison before being transferred to Grey Street Prison.
They were detained for fighting injustice and oppression against blacks by the Rhodesian government.
Zidube Ranch belonged to Bulawayo senior magistrate, Mr Francis Fairwell Roberts who was part of the judiciary that oppressed black people by issuing out detention orders to the nationalists without any justification.
The attack, which they executed together with Cdes Israel Maduma, Roger Matshimini Ncube and Rhodes Malaba, was their first target in the country upon their deployment to Rhodesia.
Cde Mpofu’s offence was in connection with an explosive attack on Wilkie’s Circus, Tredgold Building and the Post Office. The attacks were carried out between August and September in 1964.
In a statement, Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Cde Obert Mpofu said President Mnangagwa conferred liberation hero status to Cde Ngwabi.
“His Excellency, the President and First Secretary of Zanu-PF Cde Mnangagwa has conferred a liberation hero status to the late Cde Elliot Ngwabi Sibanda who died on 15 August 2021 and will be buried at Mabindisa village, Chief Sigola, Umzingwane in Matabeleland South province,” said Cde Mpofu.
Family spokesperson Ms Khulani Ndlovu said the late Cde Ngwabi will be buried today at his homestead.
“My uncle, Cde Elliot Ngwabi will be buried tomorrow (today) at his homestead in Esiphezini just outside Esigodini in Umzingwane District,” she said.
Cde Ngwabi was one of the early veterans of the country’s struggle for independence. He was influenced to join the liberation struggle by other young men that he used to meet and play with in Makokoba.
During those days, youths were doing a lot of sabotage by throwing stones at the colonial government buildings and white people’s cars.
During one of his interviews with our sister paper, Sunday News, Cde Ngwabi said he got involved in politics when he joined the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) in Makokoba when he was only 18 years old.
In 1963 when he was part of the team that was at the airport to welcome Dr Joshua Nkomo, police tried to manhandle him because he had brought some weapons into the country from Algeria.
He was arrested and spent the whole night at the main police station in Bulawayo. The other comrades visited him the following day with the party’s lawyer.
Upon his release soon after that incident, he went for military training in Zambia.
From Zambia, he went to Algeria for further training together with Cde Hadebe and others.
After training, they came back from Algeria via Lusaka and they were welcomed by the likes of Cdes Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo and Lookout Masuku.
Upon their return, they had weapons from Algeria hidden in a suitcase, which they managed to smuggle to Zambia without any problems.
The same guns sparked the Second Umvukela/Chimurenga.
When they arrived in the country, they were lucky not to be searched because security was lax.
Born on October 10, 1935 in Esiphezini in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland South, Cde Ngwabi attended Esiphezini Primary School and Mzilikazi Primary School where he completed his primary education.
He was detained at Grey Street Prison and Khami Prison where he met some fellow comrades from the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) who included President Mnangagwa.
After independence, Cde Ngwabi became the deputy chairman of Zanu-PF at Esiphezini for 10 years and that was after the Unity Accord of 1987.
He is survived by wife, Wilda and five children, four daughters and a son.-@mashnets
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