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THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc) observed a minute of silence in honour and respect of liberation icon, Retired Brigadier General Hasim Mbita of Tanzania, who died on Sunday.Mbita, 74, once served as secretary of the Liberation Committee of the then Organisation of African Unity, now African Union, and staunchly backed the region’s armed independence struggles.
He died at Lugalo Military Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
He was one of the chief architects of the liberation struggle for most of the countries in the Sadc region.
Sadc chairman, President Robert Mugabe, led a group of regional leaders at an extraordinary summit in Harare, in honouring the freedom icon.
“It was with a deep sense of sorrow and sadness that we received the news of the passing on of Brigadier General Hashim Mbita. We all know the role he played under the Liberation Committee to superintend the programme of the struggle led by various groups that were assembled in Tanzania,” President Mugabe said.
“It was he, the overseer under Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and the government of Tanzania.”
Before his death, Mbita was the leader of the Hashim Mbita Project to Honour Outstanding Leaders in the region for their contribution during the struggle for independence.
Last year, Zimbabwe honoured the late brigadier general by awarding him the Royal Order of Munhumutapa, the country’s highest honour. – New Ziana.
Online Reporter