adminFreeman Razemba Senior Reporter
The body of Zanu-PF National Consultative Assembly member and national hero Cde Velaphi Misheck Ncube (82), who died last week, arrived in Harare yesterday ahead of burial at the National Heroes’ Acre today.
The body landed at Manyame Air Base yesterday evening before it was taken to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces funeral parlour at One Commando Regiment, where it will lie in state.
The body was received by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, Zanu-PF officials, service chiefs, Government officials and relatives.
Mr Alois Matongo, a senior official in Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, said they will meet with some of the relatives at the funeral parlour today at 7.30am where the official programme will be announced.
“For the past few days, since the announcement of the national hero status, we have been following the family programme. The programme will, however, end tomorrow morning and we will change to the official Government programme.
“We are now kindly asking the family to allow us to keep the body here (at the funeral parlour) until tomorrow morning,” he said.
He said the body will be taken to Stodart Hall in Mbare, where President Mnangagwa will join the mourners before proceeding to the National Heroes Acre for burial.
On Monday, Cde Ncube’s widow, Margaret, who is the secretary for information and publicity for J.W. Msika district, thanked President Mnangagwa for the honour he bestowed upon her husband.
“We appreciate the honour that has been bestowed on my husband, which is well-deserved because he worked hard for the country during and after independence. “Because of the love he had for his country, he joined politics at a young age and never turned back until the time of his death.
“We have lost our pillar of strength, who taught us the meaning of peace and love and made all of us better people. He always reminded his children to be responsible people,” said Cde Ncube.
She said her husband had been in and out of hospital from 2016 due to diabetes.
Cde Ncube died at the United Bulawayo Hospitals. He was one of the pioneer freedom fighters under the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra).
Cde Ncube joined the liberation struggle in the early 1960s. He was among the first “Group of 12” to undertake military training in Egypt in 1962.
In 1966, he and his colleagues took advantage of the political instability in the Congo where they raided the Congolese rebels, poisoned them before looting their weapons. His mission led to the first smuggling of weapons into Southern Rhodesia.
He also served a jail term for his activities at Grey Prison, now known as Bulawayo Prison.
The national hero leaves behind his wife Margaret, nine children, 16 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Online Reporter
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