Two Zipra ex-combatants laid to rest

Mourners pay their last respect at the burial of the late Cde Leonard Ncube and Bahati Masuku at the Bulawayo Provincial Heroes’ Acre yesterday

Chronicle Reporter
TWO former Zipra freedom fighters who died on Saturday were yesterday buried at the Bulawayo Provincial Heroes’ Acre in Nkulumane after being declared liberation war heroes. Cde Leonard Ncube, 57, collapsed on Saturday near Zesa Banking Hall along Fife Street and was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he died on admission while Cde Bahati Masuku died at the Margin Clinic in Bulawayo at the age of 60.

Addressing mourners at the gathering, provincial war veterans’ leader Cde Japhet Phuthi urged Zimbabweans to unite as a way of liberating the country from the scourge of poverty.

“Our country is in deep poverty because we are not united. We can only attain the wealth we fought for if we unite as a nation,” he said.
Cde Phuthi also urged church leaders to pray for unity in the country and challenged surviving war veterans to restore the spirit of unity they cherished during the liberation struggle.

“War veterans used to be united especially during the period of the liberation struggle. We were taught to be politically mature and that meant that we had to be united,” he said adding that to date 716 heroes had been buried at the provincial shrine.

Zanu-PF Central Committee Cde Molly Mpofu urged party members to support the families of the deceased at the time of bereavement.

Cde Mpofu also spoke to the bereaved family members and urged them to desist from fighting over the inheritance that was left by their departed loved ones saying such property belonged to the widows and their children.