Vusumuzi Dube
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
SPECIAL advisor to the President, former Mayor of the City of Bulawayo and Zanu-PF Politburo member Cde Joshua Teke Malinga has died.
He was 79.
His son Mr Mpehlabayo Joshua Malinga confirmed the passing on of his father.
“I can confirm that my father Cde Joshua Malinga passed on last night (Friday) at our home in Richmond.
“He had prostate cancer which was successfully dealt with about four years ago but had since recurred and he was unwell for some time,” said Mr Malinga.
Cde Malinga was born on 20 April 1944 in Filabusi. He was born able bodied and was attacked by Polio at a very young age. He grew up in Filabusi and would remain at home looking after the grains while others took to the fields.
He was then taken to Bulawayo by the late Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu who took him to Jairos Jiri center where he went to school and later trained as a cobbler. As a young man he was touched by how the blacks were treated by the whites leading him to join politics.
He became an activist and rose in politics to become a popular figure. Cde Malinga was later elected Ward 2 Councillor in the early 1990s and became Mayor in 1993 up to 1996 serving two terms as the city’s Mayor.
He was once a Zanu-PF District chairman for Lookout Masuku district before becoming a Provincial member, then rose to becoming a Central Committee and subsequently appointed a member of the Politburo up to the time of his death. He was once the World President of the disabled people.
Mourners are gathered at number 1 Brooke road in Richmond, Bulawayo.
@nyeve14
Online Reporter