ZAPU Secretary General Mthulisi Hanana has castigated Zanu PF for denying the late former Senator and Bulawayo Metropolitan Minister Eunice Sandi Moyo national heroine status.
Moyo died on May 16 at the age of 78.
The former Zanu PF politician was instead granted a state-assisted burial.
Speaking at her memorial service at the Bulawayo Amphitheatre on Wednesday ahead of Moyo’s burial at the Lady Stanley Cemetery in the city, Hanana said Moyo’s snub is a wake-up call for all former ZAPU members in the ruling party to return to their original party.
“She was there in Zambia, at Lancaster House, she was there during Gukurahundi, she was there. She was in government all for what? I doubt that this is the Zimbabwe she envisaged,” charged Hanana.
“This snub by the Zanu PF government makes our call, yokuthi bantwana bantwana wozani ekhaya (come back to ZAPU), more relevant.”
Hanana said that due to her track record in government and the ruling party, Moyo should have been declared a national heroine.
He declared that once Zanu PF was removed from power, Moyo would be accorded national heroine status.
Moyo’s Uncle, Monti Malunguza representing the Masola Ndlovu family, expressed disappointment that the government had not recognised the former state minister as a national heroine while doing so for others who had played less distinguished roles.
“We are also grateful to the government for according to her a state-assisted funeral, however, let me hasten and say we are a little bit disappointed because the role she played pre and post-independence deserved a better recognition than a mere state-assisted funeral,” Malunguza said to applause.
“We are aware of lesser individuals who have been accorded a higher role than her. Anyway, that doesn’t dilute the fact that she is a hero. She is a hero, mainly throughout the breadth and length of this country, people accept that, she played a role and we are grateful for that.”
Malunguza said Moyo was dedicated to the total independence of Zimbabwe and this was evidenced in the role she played during the liberation struggle and her involvement in various empowerment projects post-independence.
“We are as a family grateful to the City of Bulawayo through his worship, the mayor David Coltart and the management led by Christopher Dube for recognising her role in according her a place of burial at Lady Stanley Cemetery, a place reserved for individuals who have a had a positive impact in the lives and stature of the City of Bulawayo,” said the uncle.
He also described the former minister of state as a unifier and a mentor to present-day politicians.
“Her death has robbed us of a pillar, someone who was a unifier and caring. She helped a lot in the family. She raised a lot of people in her family to relatives and where she even worked,” Malunguza said.
“When (Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development) Monica Mutsvanga came to pay her last respects last Saturday, she said Sandi Moyo moulded her. I know that the present-day politicians came through the hands.”
Moyo fell out with the ruling party in 2016 when she was accused of belonging to the then-former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s faction, which was accused of plotting to oust former President Robert Mugabe from power.
Her woes continued after the Zanu PF Women’s League demanded her removal in 2017 because she had undermined the authority of the then-First Lady Grace Mugabe.
She was eventually fired from the party and in January 2018 lost her parliamentary seat for her alleged links to the G40 faction.
She was one of the founding members of the National Patriotic Front in 2018, formed by Mugabe loyalists after he was ousted in a military coup.
