SB Moyo declared national hero

Harare Bureau
The late Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Lieutenant General Sibusiso Busi Moyo (Retired), has been declared a national hero.

Lt-Gen Moyo succumbed to Covid-19-related complications on Wednesday at a Harare medical facility.

He was 59.

Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, who is also Zanu PF national chairperson, was dispatched to the Moyo family home in Harare yesterday evening by President Mnangagwa to deliver the message.

She said Lt-Gen Moyo will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on a date to be advised.

Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said President Mnangagwa and the party saw it fit to honour Lt-Gen Moyo as national hero for the contributions he made during the liberation struggle and after independence.

The ministries of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, and Health and Child Care are now working on modalities and logistics on how the burial will be conducted.

“He has been conferred national hero status. The party was unanimous in according him the national hero status.

We acceded to a request by Midlands Province and the Defence Forces that he be declared a national hero,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.

“I have been sent by the President of the Second Republic, President Mnangagwa and his two deputies, Vice President Costantino Chiwenga and Vice President Kembo Mohadi and the Zanu-PF leadership, representing the Government and the party, to deliver a condolence message and relay the hero’s status to the late Cde Moyo,” she said.

Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri described the late Lt-Gen Moyo as a dedicated and courageous fighter who contributed immensely to the liberation struggle.

She said he joined the liberation struggle at a tender age after he abandoned his high school studies, and

“distinguished himself as a courageous freedom fighter who helped liberate the country from colonialism”.

Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said apart from his distinguished academic accomplishments, Lt-Gen Moyo was instrumental in the curriculum architecture of the Zimbabwe National Defence University (ZNDU). In accepting the hero status, Lt-Gen Moyo’s father, Mr Cephas Moyo, described his son as a courageous person, who dedicated his life to serve the nation. He thanked Zanu-PF and President Mnangagwa for according his son a national hero status.

Brother to the late national hero, Mr Bothwell Moyo, who is the family spokesperson, described the late as a unifier and a pillar of strength to the family. Lt-Gen Moyo’s mother-in-law, Mbuya Vivian Matanda, described him as an intelligent person who was frank and open to everyone.