Own Correspondent|Opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa will this weekend attend both the massive memorial service and burial of the late ZAPU leader and liberation war stalwart Dumiso Dabengwa.
MDC Treasurer General David Coltart told mourners at the Dabengwa home in Fourwinds, Bulawayo, that the newly endorsed opposition leader will attend the two events in recognition of the huge contribution Dabengwa made to the liberation of the country and fight for democracy after independence.
Thousands of people are expected to flood White City Stadium on Friday for a memorial service that will start at 9am and expected to end at 4pm. Dabengwa who was declared a National Hero, will then be buried at his rural home in Ntabazinduna on Saturday.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has confirmed that he will not be taking part in any of the activities around Dabengwa assigning Vice President Kembo Mohadi to stand for him throughout the mourning and burial.
Mnangagwa would definitely have got himself hugely embarrassed by the people of Matabeleland who will dominate the proceedings. The Matabeleland region accuses Mnangagwa of joining hands with former President Robert Mugabe to torment Dabengwa by unlawfully imprisoning him for five years after the courts had cleared him of treason charges.
Meanwhile, the City of Bulawayo has postponed its 125th years celebrations that were set for this weekend to allow for the memorial service and burial of Dabengwa.
The mayor of Bulawayo announced that Bulawayo’s 125th celebrations which were scheduled for Saturday have been moved to June 4 to pave way for the burial of the national hero at his rural home in Ntabazinduna on Saturday. He said this was due to a request from Zapu activists who indicated they would also want to be part of the celebrations.
The Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) Veterans Association and Zapu have called on all war veterans, who worked with the late national hero Dumiso Dabengwa (DD), to join a mass memorial slated for Friday at White City Stadium in Bulawayo.
The late former Home Affairs minister died in Nairobi, Kenya while in transit from India. His remains arrived in Bulawayo on Monday.
Dabengwa will be buried at the family shrine in Ntabazinduna, Matebeleland North province as per his wish.
Zipra Veterans Association spokesperson Buster Magwizi yesterday called on all war veterans and citizens in general to give the late hero a befitting send-off.
“From all corners of Zimbabwe, we are saddened by the passing on of Dabengwa. We appeal to all Zipra and Zanla comrades who worked with Dabengwa, who feel that they want to join us in remembering the commander, general, supremo Dumiso Dabengwa to come in your numbers,” Magwizi said.
He said Zimbabweans of all persuasions and the rest of southern Africa lost a gallant son of the soil, a hero of the African people’s liberation and a freedom fighter.
“Dabengwa may not have been a darling of the current administration, but let the brutal truth be told, Dabengwa earned his respect. Hate him, like him or love him, his contribution to the liberation of Africa will forever stand out unchallenged,” he said.
“DD was a forerunner in the armed struggle; he trained the crop of (President) Emmerson Mnangagwa and (Vice-President) Kembo Mohadi, who today… have a myopic view and squinted respect for their commander.”