adminDaniel Kachere Harare Bureau
INDEPENDENCE war hero Wilfred Mhanda, whose nom de guerre was Dzinashe Machingura, has died.
The former Zanla commander died at Parirenyatwa Hospital on Wednesday after succumbing to colon cancer.
He was 64, not married and had no children.
Family spokesman Munyaradzi Mhanda said Cde Mhanda was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent chemotherapy for about six months.
“After the six months of chemotherapy, a test was done by medical doctors and the cancer had cleared,” he said.
But after being treated for cancer, Cde Mhanda succumbed to other ailments that included inflammation of leg joints and swelling of the stomach which doctors associated with excess fluids in his body.
Mhanda said the family had been making frantic efforts to get him hospitalised at Westend Clinic, but were unable to get him admitted as the place was full.
“As a family, we decided to take him to Parirenyatwa Hospital to get the fluids removed from his body, but we were too late,” he said.
Cde Mhanda was a member of the Zimbabwe Liberation Platform, which had a different agenda from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association until the time of his death.
Cde Mhanda published his war memoirs, Dzino — Memories of a Freedom Fighter, a bitter account of his fallout with President Robert Mugabe which he claimed led to his incarceration in Mozambique just before Zimbabwe gained independence.
The late Cde Mhanda — a polarising figure — led training of Zanla fighters in Tanzania and Mozambique, but differences emerged with nationalist leaders which led to his sidelining.
derick.khumalo