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Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
THE funeral service for national hero and former Cabinet Minister Cde Enos Mzombi Nkala will be held tomorrow at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) grounds in Bulawayo while the body of another national hero and former Cabinet Minister Cde Kumbirai Kangai will be flown to his rural home in Buhera on Friday.
Cde Nkala who died in Harare last week will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Thursday while Cde Kangai who also died in Harare at the weekend will be buried on Saturday. The two were both founders of Zanu.
The outspoken Zanu-PF founder member and former Defence, Finance and Home Affairs Minister, Cde Nkala, succumbed to renal failure at Avenues Clinic in Harare at the age of 81 and was accorded National Hero status.
According to the burial programme issued by the Nkala family yesterday, the veteran nationalist’s body would leave the capital for Bulawayo today.
“We are bringing his body home tomorrow (today) in the afternoon and we expect to leave Harare at 12noon and arrive in Bulawayo at 2pm,” said the family spokesperson, Mr Hebert Nkala in a telephone interview from Harare.
“We will then proceed to his farm in Esigodini between 2pm and 3pm for a brief funeral service before going to his Woodlands house at 4pm. His body will lie in state at the home until Wednesday morning.”
Mr Nkala said a funeral service for Cde Nkala would be held at the ZITF grounds tomorrow between 8am and 12noon.
“After the farewell funeral service on Wednesday, the body will be taken back to Harare at around 3pm where it will lie in state. On Thursday it will be taken to Stodart Hall and then to the National Heroes Acre for burial,” he said.
Mr Nkala said the family was honoured by the respect given to their father by the national leadership.
“As a family we feel really honoured and humbled that our father has been declared a national hero. While we are aware of the contribution he made to the struggle, to the party and the Government as a minister and also that Zanu-PF was founded at his house in August 1963, we did not take the honour for granted because it is the prerogative of the Politburo and its leader President Mugabe,” he said.
Responding to views that Cde Nkala would be buried at the national shrine against his will, Mr Nkala said the family resolved the matter with him well before he fell ill.
“This is something we dealt with extensively and we are not going against his will as some people are saying. The family is very comfortable with his hero status,” said Mr Nkala.
“We are aware that ubaba might have made statements in 2010 saying he did not want to be buried at the National Heroes Acre.
“We want to clarify that as far back as 2012, ubaba called the family and engaged us on the issue many times in meetings that he initiated,” he said.
“He said he made those statements in anger, noting that he had surrendered his life to Christ and that he had reviewed his value system. He said he was no longer in doubt that if the party offered to bury him at the national shrine, he would not have problems with it.”
Matabeleland South Zanu-PF chairman Cde Andrew Langa said his province was pleased with the recognition of Cde Nkala’s contribution to the liberation struggle and after independence.
“As a province we welcome with pleasure the declaration of Cde Nkala as a National Hero. Everybody appreciates his contribution in the liberation struggle and after independence,” said Cde Langa.
“Heroes are heroes and should always be recognised. One of them is Enos Nkala. We are happy that His Excellency President Mugabe recognised his contributions.”
Cde Langa urged the people of Matabeleland South and Bulawayo to attend Cde Nkala’s funeral service in large numbers to bid him farewell.
Cde Nkala, who was born in Filabusi, Matabeleland South, was one of the founders of Zanu as the party was formed at his house, 4449 Highfield, Harare in 1963.
He was the party’s first treasurer and held the post until his resignation from politics. During the war he served in the party’s high command.
He was detained by the Rhodesian government for 12 years with leaders such as Ndabaningi Sithole, Leopold Takawira, Edgar Tekere, Morris Nyagumbo, all late and President Mugabe.
At independence in 1980 Cde Nkala became the Minister of Finance until 1983 when he was moved to the Ministry of National Supplies until 1985 before becoming Minister of Home Affairs and Defence after the 1985 elections.
Cde Nkala resigned from Government in 1989 at the height of the Willowgate scandal, which involved the acquisition of motor vehicles from Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries by individuals in Government.
The vehicles were then sold at exorbitant prices in a market that was starved of new vehicles. Last year Cde Nkala said he was bitter about the way he was forced to leave politics in 1989 insisting that he chose to resign rather than appear before the Wilson Sandura Commission because he was not wrong.
Since then he was not active in politics until his death. Mourners are gathered at House Number 62 Carrick Road, Borrowdale in Harare while in Bulawayo they are gathered at Cde Nkala’s house at House Number 9 Eastwood Road, Woodlands.
Cde Nkala is survived by wife, Thandiwe, eight children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Cde Kangai’s body will be flown to his rural home in Buhera and Mutare on Friday.
Family spokesperson Mr Reward Kangai said Cde Kangai’s body would also be flown to Mutare and Buhera on Friday.
“Right now his body is lying in state at One Commando. It will be flown to Buhera and Mutare on Friday,” he said.
Cde Kangai collapsed at his home on Saturday morning and was rushed to Corporate 24 Medical Clinic in Harare where he later died from a suspected heart attack.
Cde Kangai was one of Zanu’s founding members in 1963 and was a member of Dare ReChimurenga formed in the early 1970s to spearhead the armed struggle.
After independence, Cde Kangai held various posts in Government. He was the first Labour and Social Services Minister and went on to serve as the Minister of Industry and Commerce before being appointed Minister of Lands and Agriculture.
Cde Kangai is survived by his wife Miriam, 12 children and several grandchildren.
Online Reporter