Zipra veteran buried

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EX-ZIPRA combatant Abednicho Sibindi Moyo, who died on September 14 at his home area of Madwaleni, Dambashoko in Gwanda North, was declared a Matabeleland South provincial hero.

EX-ZIPRA combatant Abednicho Sibindi Moyo, who died on September 14 at his home area of Madwaleni, Dambashoko in Gwanda North, was declared a Matabeleland South provincial hero. SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER

Moyo, who was popularly known as Phunyuka Bemphethe (61) was buried last Thursday.

He died from liver complications he developed last year.

Speaking at the grave site, Ward 2 councillor Jerot Sibanda said he knew Moyo as a courageous liberation fighter.

“There was a time when I was supposed to go to Zambia with Mama MaFuyana (wife of the late veteran nationalist and Vice-President Joshua Nkomo) and (the late VP) Joseph Msika,” he said.

“I did not go as I had to supply Zipra fighters with clothing they had requested.

“I knew Phunyuka Bemphethe in our juvenile years before he went to war.

“It happened that I met him again during the war with a group of guerrillas who operated in this area.

“He was really a fearless man and this is a true hero we are laying to rest today.”

A Zipra war veteran Bishop Dube told mourners that Moyo always used to tell him during military training in Tanzania that he heard a voice in a dream telling him to return to Zimbabwe and kill the enemy.

Dube said because Moyo operated in his home area in Matabeleland South. He managed to save a lot of people’s lives, including those deemed to be sellouts.

“This area was saved by him unlike what happened in other parts of the country during the war. What happened in other areas was horrific,” he said.

Moyo’s war colleague Jokes Thodlana said the ex-Zipra combatant had joined the liberation struggle in 1975.

“We went to Nampundu at Membeshi camp in Zambia together with many other Zipra comrades,” he said. “We trained at Membeshi for three weeks and the high command told us to go and form the Zimbabwe People’s Army in Mgagao, Tanzania. We were more than 800 commanded by Sam Madondo and other instructors.

“Upon arrival, Zanla members denied us training using guns. The guns were always locked away in the armoury,” Thodlana said.

“They were also denying us food. They later said we must cook since we were no longer training like them. At some point they claimed our members had eaten yet they had not and that angered us. We fought with them with sticks and later took charge of the camp.”

He said they later returned to Zambia where they were sent to Zimbabwe via Hwange.

Thodlana said he was the sector commander and Moyo the medical person.

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