By Munacho Gwamanda –The ruling Zanu PF party has conferred national heroine status on Retired Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Winnie Mandeya, marking a historic moment as she becomes the first female Air Vice Marshal to be accorded such an honour in Zimbabwe.
The rank of Air Vice Marshal is equivalent to that of a Major General in the Zimbabwe National Army.
The announcement was delivered by Zanu PF national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha, who informed her family on Tuesday evening.
He said the Government was prepared to inter her at the National Heroes Acre in Harare on Thursday, May 2, pending the family’s consent.
“The national heroine has been granted the highest recognition, and she will be laid to rest among other distinguished heroes and heroines of our country at the National Heroes Acre,” Machacha said. “If the family is comfortable with that, then Government will begin making the necessary arrangements.”
AVM Mandeya died at the age of 64.
A liberation war veteran and a trailblazing officer, she joined the struggle for independence on September 29, 1975, undergoing military training at Nachingweya in Tanzania.
She was later deployed to Gaza Province where she operated until 1978, before being selected to undertake a nursing course.
Following Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, she began her post-war career in the President’s Department, where she contributed to the 1981 Commission of Inquiry into missing persons.
On July 1, 1984, she joined the Air Force of Zimbabwe and rose through the ranks to become one of its most respected officers, eventually attaining the rank of Air Vice Marshal—a position equivalent to Major General in the Zimbabwe National Army—before retiring.
AVM Mandeya’s death comes at a time when the country continues to witness the passing of numerous senior military and intelligence officials—some under circumstances that have sparked widespread speculation.
Since the 2017 military coup that ousted long-time leader Robert Mugabe and elevated Emmerson Mnangagwa to the presidency with the support of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, a string of high-profile deaths has cast a long shadow over the country’s security sector.
Among the most notable was Major General Trust Mugoba, who died in September 2019 shortly after being recalled from the African Union.
His death was followed weeks later by that of Lieutenant General Edzai Chimonyo, commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, who succumbed to cancer in July 2021.
Also on the list and yet to be eliminated is Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje, a key figure in the 2017 coup, who was quietly retired from the army and removed from the Zanu PF politburo, fading from public life before his reported health complications.
Several generals also died within a short span, prompting whispers of a silent purge or targeted neglect of those once central to the post-coup power realignment.
While some of the deaths have been attributed to natural causes such as cancer and COVID-19, critics argue the sheer frequency and political significance of the deceased point to deeper undercurrents of mistrust and rivalry within the military and political elite.
In this tense environment, the conferring of national heroine status on AVM Mandeya is seen not just as a celebration of her contributions to Zimbabwe’s liberation and post-independence statecraft, but also as part of a broader effort to maintain loyalty within the security establishment.