ZANU PF was by the end of day yesterday yet to reach a decision regarding Dickson “Cde Chinx” Chingaira’s hero status after the party’s Harare provincial leadership recommended that the late musician be declared a national hero.
BY STAFF REPORTER
Party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo told NewsDay that consultations were still going on.
“The application (for the according of national hero status) goes to the secretary for administration (Ignatius Chombo), who then makes the necessary consultations. I have not heard anything as yet. I believe the consultations may still be underway,” Moyo said.
Chombo’s mobile phone went unanswered.
Chingaira, who was 61, died at the weekend at a private hospital in Harare after a long battle with cancer.
Although Chingaira was part of a coterie of singers associated with the Zanu PF party who were used to ramp-up pressure on white commercial farmers at the height of the land reform programme, there has been widespread consensus from different quarters that he deserves to be accorded the national hero status. Among those calling for the hero status is self-exiled Chimurenga music guru and fierce Zanu PF critic, Thomas Mapfumo, who was quoted saying he hoped Cde Chinx “will get the honour he deserves as a true national hero of our time.”
The musician is survived by 10 children and two wives.
