Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF Matabeleland South has officially requested a National Heroine status for the late liberation stalwart Cde Jane Lungile Ngwenya who died on Friday last week at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Abednico Ncube said they were awaiting a response from senior Government authorities.
“As a province, the acting party chairman Cde Khanye sent out a recommendation that we would want Cde Ngwenya to be declared a national heroine. We recommend that as a province, the highest office then decides what they will declare following our recommendation,” said Cde Ncube, who is also a member of the party’s Politburo.
Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu told Sunday News yesterday that everything was in order and the announcement was likely to be made today.
“The process (of announcing the hero status) was all in order, by Sunday (today) we will have an update on the matter,” he said when contacted for comment.
Cde Ncube said the province enjoyed good relations with the late Cde Ngwenya.
“We worked well with her although she had been having health challenges over the years but she contributed a lot to the liberation of Zimbabwe. It’s a huge loss to us,” he added.
Cde Ngwenya was born in Buhera District, Manicaland Province in 1935 and attended Gwebu Primary School in the same area. She was the first-born child of Gerald Ngwenya, a Sotho from South Africa, who had come to Rhodesia as a Methodist Church missionary. She was raised by her maternal parents as her mother remarried after her father died in 1938.
Cde Ngwenya’s political career draws inspiration from founding nationalists such as the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo, Benjamin Burombo, Joseph Msika and Josiah Chinamano. In the early 1960s, Cde Ngwenya was detained for her activism at Grey Street Prison, now Bulawayo Prison, and WhaWha detention camp in Gweru before being taken to Gonakudzingwa where she met several nationalists who were also incarcerated at the camp.
Growing up, she saw her grandfather being lashed by the white settlers and that motivated her to take a liking for politics following what she witnessed as she grew up. She was later to cross into Zambia to work hand in hand with other nationalists such as Cdes Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, George Silundika and Edward Mbahwa Ndlovu. When a parcel bomb exploded on JZ Moyo on 22 January 1977, Cde Ngwenya was one of those present who were injured.
After Indepedence Cde Ngwenya served as Deputy Minister of Labour, Manpower Planning and Welfare in the early 1980s, a key ministry which was tasked with overseeing the rehabilitation of returnees and refugees from the liberation struggle. Mourners are gathered at her farm in Esigodini. She is survived by a son Shingirayi, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
@NyembeziMu
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter