By A Correspondent-ZESA Holdings executive chairperson, Sydney Gata has been declared a national hero and is set to be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Wednesday.

Gata passed away in Harare on Thursday after a short illness.
He was 79.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Ambassador Raphael Faranisi confirmed the latest development to The Herald Online.

Gata, from Mutema communal lands under Chief Mutema, was not only a towering technocrat but also a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Married to Mnangagwa’s second wife, Gata operated at the heart of Zimbabwe’s patronage networks, often leveraging his proximity to power to secure personal and family interests.
Despite holding prestigious posts—ZESA CEO in the 1980s and 1990s, Executive Chairman from 2019, and international advisory roles—his career was tainted by accusations of looting public resources, nepotism, and abuse of office. Under his watch, Zimbabwe’s energy crisis worsened, with rolling blackouts and ballooning debt becoming the norm, while he lived in luxury and retained power.
In his home constituency of Mutema-Musikavanhu, locals accuse Gata of imposing his wife, Angeline Gata, as MP and using his influence to dominate local politics. Her candidacy divided ZANU-PF structures, and critics say the couple used fear and state resources to suppress dissent.
During the June 14 by-election in Ward 5, over 1,200 voters were “assisted” under suspicious claims of illiteracy—many reportedly being teachers and civil servants. This, locals say, was political coercion disguised as support.
Gata was also accused of displacing villagers for personal land expansion, further alienating communities. Many in Chipinge feared confronting him, citing his deep ties to Mnangagwa and the resulting political protection.
Despite a few voices praising his developmental contributions, including the proposed Gazaland University, the broader view in Chipinge is that Gata embodied the worst excesses of Zimbabwe’s post-independence elite—abuse of power, political gatekeeping, and economic exclusion.