MATADZISEI Tangwena, nee Madzivanzira, the widow of the late anti-colonialist fighter and national hero Chief Rekayi Tangwena, has died.
Report by Obey Manayiti
She was 83.
Senior Zanu PF officials told NewsDay Ambuya Tangwena died at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare yesterday morning.
Zanu PF national secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said the Manicaland provincial executive would sit down soon and deliberate on her hero status and burial arrangements.
Kenneth Saruchera, Zanu PF’s provincial secretary for administration, described the late Ambuya Tangwena as a pillar of strength.
He said the provincial executive would meet today and discuss burial arrangements, adding they might consider recommending that she be declared a national heroine.
“She played a critical role during the liberation struggle. She was a wife of the late national hero, Chief Tangwena, which means she was also his adviser. We looked at her as our mother who often guided us on many things,” Saruchera said.
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“We will sit down and discuss her burial. I cannot speculate as of now on whether she will be declared a national heroine or not, but we are going to consider that when we meet tomorrow (today),” said Saruchera.
Chief Tangwena is renowned for fiercely resisting attempts by the then colonial regime to force his subjects to vacate their original base in Gairezi after the land was earmarked for white-owned commercial farms.
He is also credited with facilitating President Robert Mugabe and the late Edgar Tekere’s sneaking into Mozambique in 1975 during the liberation war.
Tangwena died aged 74 in June 1984 and was buried at the National Heroes’ Acre in Harare.
