By Munacho Gwamanda-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has returned to the National Heroes Acre, this time to bury the country’s first female Air Force general, Retired Air Vice Marshal Winnie Cabby Mandeya.
Mandeya died on Monday, just two days before Mnangagwa presided over the burial of two other senior security officials, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Director Walter Basopo and Brigadier General Victor Rugani, at the same national shrine in Harare.
Mandeya, a pioneering figure in Zimbabwe’s military, passed away on 28 April at a hospital in the capital.
She was 64.
In recognition of her historic contribution, the ruling Zanu PF party has conferred national heroine status on Mandeya, making her the first woman in the Air Force of Zimbabwe to receive this honour.
Her rank of Air Vice Marshal is equivalent to that of a Major General in the Zimbabwe National Army.
The announcement was made by Zanu PF national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha, who visited the family on Tuesday evening to deliver the news.
He said the government was ready to inter her at the National Heroes Acre on Thursday, 2 May, 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,” said Machacha. “If the family is comfortable with that, then the government will begin making the necessary arrangements.”
A liberation war veteran and trailblazer in military leadership, Mandeya joined the armed struggle on 29 September 1975.
She underwent military training at Nachingweya in Tanzania before being deployed to Gaza Province, where she served until 1978.
She was later selected for a nursing course, enhancing her skills for the post-war state-building efforts.
After independence in 1980, Mandeya worked in the President’s Department, where she contributed to the 1981 Commission of Inquiry into Missing Persons.
She officially joined the Air Force of Zimbabwe on 1 July 1984 and rose through the ranks to become one of the most respected officers in the service, eventually attaining the rank of Air Vice Marshal before retiring.
Her death adds to a growing list of senior military and intelligence figures who have died in recent years, many under circumstances that have fuelled speculation.
Since the 2017 military coup that toppled long-time ruler Robert Mugabe and ushered Mnangagwa into power with the backing of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the country has witnessed a steady stream of high-profile deaths within the security sector.
Among them was Major General Trust Mugoba, who died in September 2019 shortly after being recalled from the African Union.
Just weeks later, Lieutenant General Edzai Chimonyo, then commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, died of cancer in July 2021.
Another key figure from the coup era, Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje, was quietly retired from the army and removed from the Zanu PF politburo.
He has since faded from public life amid reports of ill health.
The string of deaths, including several generals within a short span, has sparked whispers of a silent purge or strategic sidelining of figures central to the post-coup realignment.
While official explanations have often cited natural causes such as cancer or COVID-19, critics argue that the frequency and political relevance of the deceased point to deeper tensions and rivalries within the ruling elite and security apparatus.
In this charged context, the decision to honour AVM Mandeya as a national heroine is seen not only as a recognition of her service to Zimbabwe’s liberation and state institutions, but also as a strategic move to reinforce loyalty within the military establishment amid ongoing power shifts.