MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai Wednesday evening visited the late Vice President Simon Muzenda’s Harare home to console the family following the death of Muzenda’s widow Maud.
Mai Muzenda (88) died at the Avenues Clinic early this week. She had been ill for a long time. Her husband died in 2003.
Tsvangirai, his deputy Nelson Chamisa and several other MDC-T top officials visited the Muzenda’s Chisipite home where they paid their condolences.
Chamisa told New Zimbabwe that Tsvangirai’s visit to the Muzenda family was a sign of his party’s respect for the late heroine.
“She is a true heroine and no one doubts her credibility, commitment and credentials,” said Chamisa.
“As a party we have always said that we value and cherish the role heroes and heroines like Mai Muzenda played during and after the liberation struggle. She is an icon and he resembles the brave and courageous girl child who committed her life to the betterment of the nation,” he said.
Asked if the MDC-T leader would attend the burial of the late Mai Muzenda, Chamisa said it was an individual decision.
“That is not and has never been dictated by the party, and it is an individual decision to either attend the burial of anyone, but as a party we value true heroes and heroines,” Chamisa said.
The MDC-T has in the past even during the tenure of the unity government boycotted several burials of national heroes whose selection criteria they doubted.
The party at one point indicated that when in power it was going to reverse the heroes’ status of some of the people who are interred at the National Heroes’ Acre, citing that they do not deserve to be at the national shrine.
MDCs want national heroes to be selected on a non-partisan basis.
Zanu PF accords a heroes status to anyone within its top ranks who would have died while loyal to the party. In all cases President Robert Mugabe has the final say.
