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He was 74.
Zanu-PF Bulawayo province has recommended that he be accorded national hero status.
His sister, Mrs Sylvia Gumbo, said Cde Ncube died at Mpilo Central Hospital yesterday morning after succumbing to anaemia.
“My brother has been on and off for a long time. I received a phone call this morning informing me that he had died at the hospital. The doctors said he suffered from severe anaemia,” said Mrs Gumbo.
“We are devastated by the loss of my brother because he was an influential and uniting figure in the family. Everyone in the family relied on him for advice as he was a father to everyone.”
Acting Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Killian Sibanda said the provincial leadership had recommended that Cde
Ncube be accorded national hero status considering the influential role he played since the liberation struggle.
“After receiving the sad news, we sat down as a party and resolved to recommend Cde Edson Ncube for a national hero’s status. This was prompted by the fact that he is among the leaders who led the masses from colonisation to independence.
“This man spent most of his life working towards eradicating the legacy of injustice in the country. He is among the leaders who championed the liberation struggle against the background of other leaders who never supported the liberation struggle.”
Cde Sibanda said Cde Ncube championed the revolution until the day he died.
“Cde Ncube has never embraced the ideology of the oppressors. He championed our revolution until the day of his death.
“We have since informed the national commissar and we are therefore sending all the documentation to our headquarters in Harare. We are expecting a response from the national leaders,” said Cde Sibanda.
Zimbabwe National War Veterans’ Association president Cde Jabulani Sibanda said the nation, especially Matabeleland North Province, has lost a true hero.
“It is a bad situation to lose a hero of Ncube’s range. If you go to Matabeleland North, he is among the first founders of the party that united the people for independence and freedom,” said Cde Sibanda.
“Cde Ncube is among the nationalists in the early 60s who stood up and fought for the rights of the people against British settlers.”
Cde Sibanda said Cde Ncube was influential in recruiting and mobilising people for the liberation struggle.
“Most people realised that it was a necessity to fight for their rights and the country, because of his work in mobilising people. There is no doubt that he is a true hero. There is no detention camp that does not bear Cde Ncube’s name.
“He was among the leading personnel who were tasked with uniting Zanu and Zapu. He continued in that path serving as a Politburo member and today he leaves as a gallant fighter, liberator, revolutionary and we salute him,” said Cde Sibanda.
Cde Ncube, who was a widower, was born in 1938 in Tsholotsho District and attended Matshudula School for his Standard
One to Three before proceeding to Luveve School in Bulawayo for his Standard Four up to Six.
He did his Ordinary level through private studies and also studied at Hope Fountain Mission from 1956 to 1958.
Cde Ncube worked as a school master from 1959 to 1969 before working at Boka group as a sales representative.
joined the ANC in 1959 and later the NDP, Zapu and the PCC and was also the chairman of the Progressive and Development Association, a wing of Zapu from 1962 to 1966.
In 1965, Cde Ncube was arrested for resisting the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 1969, he was arrested again for rising against the referendum for a republic by the Rhodesian Front and was detained at Khami Prison for three years.
Cde Ncube was also detained at Marandellas Prison (now Marondera Prison) from 1977 to 1979 for recruiting and dealing with freedom fighters, the likes of Andrew Ndiweni and John Maluzo Ndlovu.
In 1981 Cde Ncube was elected the Zapu Matabeleland provincial chairman and was also co-chairman of the Matabeleland North Integration Task Force of PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF.
In 1989, he was elected Zanu-PF Central Committee member and was later appointed the deputy national secretary for commissariat and culture, a position he held up to 1998.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Mpopoma constituency in 1990 until 1995. He was also a member of a committee of service ministries for five years.
In 2001, he served in the interim committee of Bulawayo Province until the elections in 2004 when he was elected Central Committee member of Zanu-PF for Bulawayo.
His colleagues knew him as Zulu as he was a people’s man, while others called him “Size 17”, as he never tolerated people who disrespected the party’s principles.
Cde Ncube is survived by five children and three grandchildren.
Mourners are gathered at 88/7670 Mpopoma.
Online Reporter