adminDaniel Kachere Harare Bureau
War veteran Cde Wilfred Mhanda, who died on Wednesday after battling colon cancer, will be buried at Glen Forest cemetery in Harare today.Family spokesperson Munyaradzi Mhanda said Cde Mhanda will be buried at 2pm.
Yesterday, mourners were gathered at his home at number 7 Subury Road in Monavale.
Present at the gathering was suspended ZBC chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere, also a war veteran.
According to Munyaradzi Mhanda, Cde Mhanda was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent chemotherapy for about six months.
He said while being treated for the cancer, Cde Mhanda also battled other ailments that included inflammation of leg joints and swelling of the stomach, which doctors associated with excess fluid in the body.
Munyaradzi Mhanda said the family had been making frantic efforts to get him hospitalised at West End Clinic, but were unable to get him a bed as the institution was full.
He said Cde Mhanda was not married and had no children.
Cde Mhanda was a member of the Zimbabwe Liberators Platform founded in 2000, which was set up as an alternative to the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said Cde Mhanda contributed immensely to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.
A strident critic of President Mugabe, for a while he played a prominent role in the liberation of the country from colonial rule, but fell from grace after being central in a rebellion that sought to destabilise the leadership of the struggle.
This saw him imprisoned in Mozambique until 1979, when he was released at the behest of British and white settler authorities.
In his memoirs, titled Dzino — Memories of a Freedom Fighter, Cde Mhanda reveals how he was debriefed by the colonial Special Branch in the lead up to Independence Day and even had an operative assigned to him.
“Sixty-four of us flew from Beira to Salisbury (now Harare) towards the end of January 1980 and became the responsibility of Lord Soames, transitional governor of Southern Rhodesia. As we walked across the tarmac to the Rhodesian air force plane at Beira airport, we could hardly believe what was about to happen…
“I was in a very confused state of mind… We had become outsiders, distanced from the contagious euphoria gripping the country…
“Upon our arrival, we were taken to Tomlinson Depot of the BSAP. There, over a period of two days, we were debriefed and vetted by the Rhodesian Special Branch and then transferred to the Skyline Motel, about 20 kilometres to the south of Harare. Superintendent Jeff Price of the Rhodesian Special Branch was assigned to us.”
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