By RICHARD MUPONDE
LUPANE East legislator (Zanu PF) and Matabeleland North secretary for administration in the women’s league, Sithembile Gumbo, has died.
Gumbo (56) died at United Bulawayo Hospitals in the City of Kings on Monday night.
Zanu PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson and Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo confirmed Gumbo’s death yesterday morning.
“It’s sad, she died yesterday night (Monday). She was ill for a long time and had been in and out of hospital. At one time, she had to be flown out of the country through Parliament to seek medication,” he said.
“However, her illness was exacerbated by an accident she was involved in recently in Shangani, which eventually took her away.”
Moyo said the province wants her to be declared a provincial heroine.
“We lost a hard-working person who worked for the party. She was our secretary for women affairs in the province, a position she held until the time of her death. She was also voted to be Lupane East legislator for two terms because of her hard work,” he said.
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“We are looking at her papers with the view of applying to the party that she be accorded a provincial heroine status.”
The family would announce burial arrangements in due course, Moyo added.
Gumbo won the 2018 elections by polling 7 875 votes against her closest rival, Dalumuzi Khumalo, of the MDC Alliance, who polled 5 791 votes.
She was the Zanu PF Matabeleland North district chairperson from 1995 to 1999 and provincial secretary for legal affairs from 2000 to 2003.
She subsequently served as provincial secretary for the disabled from 2003 to 2008, and as provincial secretary for administration women’s league, a position she held at the time of her death.
