Zanu PF is yet to come up with a position on whether or not to confer national hero status on veteran politician and nationalist Peter Chanetsa following a request by his home province to accord him such status.The Mashonaland West Zanu-PF provincial leaders have since written to the party asking for the highest honour for heroes to be conferred on Chanetsa.

Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday revealed that they were still consulting with President Mugabe who is now in China.

He said Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made, as the acting Minister of Home Affairs, would communicate the revolutionary party’s position on the national hero status.

Mashonaland West Zanu-PF provincial chairperson  Ephraim Chengeta and Chanetsa’s nephew Mr Michael Chanetsa said they were still waiting for guidance from the party.

“There has been no communication yet. We are sure the leadership is still consulting on the matter,” said Chengeta. Chanetsa was the first black Government chief of protocol and former Mashonaland West governor and Resident Minister.

The Zanu-pf Central Committee member succumbed to heart failure at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals on Monday. He was 70.

In a letter to Zanu-pf secretary for Administration Ignatius Chombo, Mashonaland West Province said in part: “Mashonaland West provincial executive do hereby request you to accord him with national liberation war hero status considering his immense contribution during and after the liberation struggle.”

The province attached Chanetsa’s curriculum vitae detailing his work in the party and Government. During his tenure as governor, Chanetsa oversaw the crunch phase of the land reform programme in his province in the early 2000s.

He retired from that post in 2003.

Apart from being a politician and farmer, Chanetsa had interests in safari and fishing businesses.

Born on July 15, 1946 in Chinhoyi, Chanetsa first had his education in that area before proceeding to Mabvuku in the then Salisbury.

He then went to Mwanza, Tanzania where he later hooked up with other locals and received military training in that country. He came back to Zimbabwe at independence in 1980. Chanetsa is survived by wife Beatrice and three children.

Mourners are gathered at Number 6 Lona Close in Borrowdale. – State Media