Rtd Brig Mbita honoured

Lawson Mabhena in Victoria Falls
PRESIDENT Mugabe on Sunday bestowed the Royal Order of Munhumutapa on former Liberation Committee executive secretary in the Organisation of African Unity, Retired Brigadier General Hashim Mbita.
The President also gave Rtd Brig Gen Mbita a monetary award of $100,000.
President Mugabe bestowed the Order just after he launched the Hashim Mbita Project publication’s nine volumes documenting the liberation struggle in each Southern African country that fought for independence.

The project is a brainchild of Sadc Heads of State and is wholly funded by member States.
The nine countries that fought for liberation are Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rtd Brig Gen Mbita, a former Tanzanian ambassador to Zimbabwe, was the last and longest serving Liberation Committee secretary responsible for mobilising arms and military equipment for liberation armies.

The Liberation Committee office, which was in existence for 30 years, was officially closed in 1994 when South Africa became the last African country to become independent.

Rtd Brig Gen Mbita was executive secretary from 1974 until South Africa gained majority rule. The Liberation Committee was established at the founding summit of the OAU in 1963.

“This is in recognition of his sterling contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe from colonial bondage,” President Mugabe said to Rtd Brig Gen Mbita’s daughter, Ms Shella Hashim Mbita who received the award on her father’s behalf.

“It is an honour for me to stand before you today on behalf of my ailing father, Brigadier General Hashim Mita, who was invited to attend this auspicious occasion. It is unfortunate that due to his current state of ill health, he could not attend. But he would have liked very much to be with you.

“When I informed my father about the launch of the publication documenting the history of the liberation struggle of the Southern African region by the Hashim Mbita Project, and about the invitation extended to the family, he was greatly moved,” Ms Mbita said in her acceptance speech.

Officially informing the 34th Sadc Summit about the Order bestowed on Rtd Brig Gen Mbita, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda said only the former leaders of the Frontline States, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Augusto Neto (Angola), Samora Machel (Mozambique), Seretse Khama (Botswana) and former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, the only surviving member, had received such honour for their contribution to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.

“In light of his (Rtd Brig Gen Mbita’s) contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe, government felt he deserved this honour,” Dr Sibanda said.