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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
ACTING President Phelekezela Mphoko last night visited the family of the late former Speaker of Parliament, Cde Cyril Enock Ndebele, in Woodville suburb in Bulawayo to console them.
The veteran politician, who died at the age of 83, was the chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission following his appointment in February this year.
He died on Friday in Harare after being airlifted by the Ministry of Defence from Bulawayo’s Mater Dei Hospital where he had been admitted for an undisclosed ailment
He will be buried on Wednesday at Denver Farm on the outskirts of Bulawayo.
The Acting President described Cde Ndebele as a dedicated cadre and lawyer who helped several nationalists by rendering legal services.
“The nation has been robbed of a true cadre. I knew him since the times of the liberation struggle when he represented several nationalists who were being tried under the Rhodesian colonial government. We also worked together when he was appointed the chairperson of the Peace and Reconciliation Commission as he passionately worked towards ensuring peace in the country,” he said.
Cde Ndebele was accorded a state funeral and the Government has given his family $10 000.
A former Speaker between 1995 and 2000, Cde Ndebele is understood to have been hospitalised at the Roman Catholic Church-run hospital on Tuesday, but had to be airlifted when his condition deteriorated.
He joined the African National Congress in South Africa in 1960 while a student at the University of Natal. He earned a law degree from Queens University, Belfast, in 1970.
He became Zapu chairperson in 1970 after returning to the country. He was a member of the legal team of the Patriotic Front in the Geneva, Malta and Lancaster House conferences, leading to the country’s independence in 1980.
After independence, he was a councillor in Bulawayo and after the Unity Accord was signed in 1987, he became an MP in 1990. As a law maker, he was the chairperson of the Privileges Committee and the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
After he became the Speaker of Parliament in 1995, he created the Parliamentary Reform Committee, paving way for far reaching changes to the Legislative Assembly.
Mourners are gathered at his Bulawayo residence at Plot 7B in Woodville suburb.
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