Liberation war veteran Tshinga Dube set for burial at National Heroes Acre

THE late struggle icon and former Makokoba legislator, Retired Colonel Tshinga Judge Dube (83), who was declared a national hero, will be laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre in Harare this Wednesday.

Today, a funeral service will be held at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, where multitudes of mourners are expected to converge to accord Dube a befitting send-off

In his condolence message, President Emmerson Mnangagwa descried Dube’s contributions to the country’s freedom as immense.

“His eventful life typified a generation born and raised in troubled circumstances of brutal settler colonial rule, indeed a generation which was forced by those dire circumstances to sacrifice and bravely bear the brunt of overthrowing the odious rule through force of arms,” Mnangagwa said.

He said Dube shall always be remembered for the many battles he fought and won for Zimbabwe’s freedom, and the outstanding role he played in the integration process through which the previously belligerent forces were amalgamated into a new national army.

The firebrand Zanu PF Politburo member, who was Defence deputy minister from 2015 to 2017, suffered kidney failure more than a week after he was hospitalised at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo, according to his son, Vusa.

Famous for his brutal affront against oppression, Dube fought in the 1970s liberation war and joined the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) after independence in 1980.

He retired with the rank of colonel and became chief executive officer of the State-owned arms manufacturer and procuring entity for the armed forces, the Zimbabwe Defence Industries, for 22 years.

At the time of his death, Dube was National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) board member and also sat on other parastatal boards.