THE Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) Veterans Trust chairperson Lwazi Tsheza yesterday said the late Retired Colonel Harold Mtandwa Chirenda does not need anyone’s recommendation to be declared a national hero since he served in the Zapu military wing’s high command and as a senior army officer until his retirement in 1995.
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Tsheza’s remarks come in the wake of Zanu PF Bulawayo provincial chairperson Calistus Ndlovu’s revelations on Saturday that the province had made recommendations to the politburo for the former Zipra director of training to be honoured with a hero’s status.
Chirenda, whose pseudonym was Elliot Masengo, died at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) on New Year’s Day after a long illness aged 69. Preparations for his burial are still in progress.
Ndlovu said Zanu PF Bulawayo province made recommendations to the politburo for Chirenda to be bestowed hero status, but could not be drawn into revealing whether they had recommended the provincial or national hero status for him.
Sources said the politburo’s approval of the recommendations was being delayed by the absence of President Robert Mugabe and the party’s national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo who are out of the country.
Efforts to get comment from Zanu PF national spokesperson Rugare Gumbo on whether they had received Bulawayo’s recommendations on Chirenda’s hero status were fruitless yesterday as his mobile phone was not reachable.
However, Tsheza said in real life, hero status is not given or granted, but one’s work and dedication confer him or her with that status.
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“Chirenda is one kind of a person who does not need anyone to give him the status as he stands out as one of the people who worked hard to liberate this country,” he said.
“Harold is a hero. He was part of the founding members of Zipra’s training directorate.
“He does not need people from Harare to recommend him as he is obviously a hero.”
Tsheza said those asking for Chirenda’s credentials could have asked the Zipra members who served with him and under him as a trainer.
“They could have asked us who worked with him. Chirenda is a hero and no one can take it from him,” he said.
“People from Harare do not know that but we know all about him.”
Chirenda was one of the founding Zipra military trainers at Morogoro Camp in 1968 after being trained in Algeria.
He served in the Zipra high command together with the likes of the late national hero General Lookout Masuku and Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri, among others.
He is survived by wife Florence, 10 children and 15 grandchildren.
Mourners are gathered at 22 Britton Road, Paddonhurst in Bulawayo.
