Online Reporter
Bulawayo Bureau
CONDOLENCE messages continue to pour in for veteran journalist and Sunday News assistant editor Mkhululi “Mkhays” Sibanda, with many whose lives he touched describing him as a gentle giant whose contribution to national narratives and development deserves recognition.
Sibanda passed away on Friday evening after a short illness.
Famed for his firm and no-nonsense approach to newsroom management, Sibanda is also remembered for mentoring many journalists. His passion for telling the history of the liberation struggle led to the birth of the popular column “Lest We Forget”, where he documented stories told by surviving ZPRA and ZANLA forces shaping historical national discourses”.
Brigadier-General (Retired) Abel Mazinyane described his relationship with “MK”, as he affectionately called him.
“He initiated the series ‘Lest We Forget’, where every Sunday News edition featured an article. This covered the liberation struggle. Fighters and politicians were invited to contribute. This revealed a lot about the struggle, it put ZPRA firmly on the liberation map and it was great,” he said.
“I had planned to meet him today (yesterday) after being away for a week and we discussed certain projects towards the Heroes’ Day commemorations.
“We wanted to take advantage of his expertise in writing about our Angolan mass graves, which the Government is planning to mark, the spot where Cde (Nikita) Mangena died and many other related aspects of the struggle.”
He added that they had planned to start the articles early as the nation prepared for Heroes’ Day celebrations, but this was disrupted by his untimely death.
Brig-Gen (Retd) Mazinyane said Sibanda’s passing away has left a gap in the narration of the liberation story.
“We do not know what we will do or how we will move forward. We are still in shock. The impact is growing as we try to process what has happened. We are still in denial; I cannot gauge the extent of the damage to the work he was doing. I pray that those who worked with him will do their best to maintain the momentum,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) chairperson Cde Cephas Ncube described the late Sibanda as a dedicated son of a fighter.
“He was a child of a war veteran himself. I am deeply touched and saddened by his death, because as war veterans, we look forward to our children taking over the mantle, and Mkhululi was doing just that. He played a vital role by documenting the history of war veterans.
“He not only wrote about the commanders of the revolution but also produced many articles on the revolution itself and Zimbabwe’s independence,” he said.
Cde Ncube said Sibanda further documented both living and departed commanders.
“He provided biographies of these departed cadres when needed. He had written many of their biographies through his column, and when we were stuck on a particular liberation cadre’s history, we discovered he had it and helped us.
“He played a significant role, much like the late historian Mr Phathisa Nyathi. It is a great loss to us all that we have lost Mkhululi after Phathisa. We thought we would have him longer. We have lost a good man, a freedom fighter, born of a fighter himself. He dedicated his pen to documenting the struggle at his young age,” said Cde Ncube.
Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.
