By A Correspondent

Walter Basopo, a longtime intelligence operative accused of coordinating covert terror operations on behalf of the late former President Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU PF party, has been declared a national hero following his death in South Africa on Tuesday.

Basopo, who held a senior position in the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), played a key role in executing political repression strategies that propped up Mugabe’s decades-long rule and later supported President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s consolidation of power. From orchestrating crackdowns on opposition figures to coordinating covert operations that targeted dissenters, Basopo operated in the shadows of ZANU PF’s most controversial and violent political campaigns.

Despite his controversial legacy, state officials oversaw the airlifting of his body from Charles Gumbo Barracks in Harare to his rural home in Gutu on Sunday. The government announced a detailed itinerary for his body to lie in state at various locations before burial at the National Heroes Acre—Zimbabwe’s highest honor.

“Cde Basopo’s body is being carried to Gutu, Zvinatsa Primary School… Tomorrow it will be moved to Chinhoyi, and finally, it will return to Harare on its way to the Heroes Acre,” said Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage official, Maxwell Muguse.

While government sources hailed Basopo as a liberation war veteran who joined ZANLA in 1976 and rose to prominence post-independence, critics argue his true legacy is steeped in fear, silence, and manipulation.