THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has requested that its founding leader Gibson Sibanda be declared a national hero following his death on Monday night, an official said.
The party’s secretary general Welshman Ncube wrote to President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday morning asking for the conferment of the honour which has yet to be granted to anyone outside the Zanu PF party.
Ncube’s deputy Priscilla Misihairabwi said: “Gibson Sibanda was a critical cog in the liberation struggle as he used his job as a driver for the railways to move weapons to aid the war effort. For that, he was detained for three years by the Rhodesian government in HwaHwa prison and Marondera.
“He was also instrumental in creating the ZCTU which he went on to lead for over a decade. Over the years, the ZCTU has been at the forefront of standing up for ordinary workers.
“When trade unionism failed to achieve the fair society he envisaged, he had the courage in 1999, alongside the union’s secretary general Morgan Tsvangirai, to put himself forward as interim leader of the MDC leading to the 2000 congress.
“He played a pivotal role in the formation of the power sharing government which has led us to this situation today where things are once again looking up for our country following a decade of mutual political self destruction and economic reversal.
“Sibanda kept true to his principle of ‘Zimbabwe first’ and if there’s anyone who deserves to be called a national hero, then it is him.”
Ruling coalition leaders President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara agreed at an August 4 meeting to establish a cross-party committee that would confer hero status – taking away that role from Zanu PF’s politburo.
With the committee still to be put together, it is expected that Mugabe will confer with his Zanu PF party and then meet Tsvangirai and Mutambara to come to a decision.
If granted, Sibanda will be given a full state burial at the National Heroes' Acre alongside luminaries of Zimbabwe's war of independence including Joshua Nkomo with whom he worked at the railways and ZAPU.
Sibanda died at Bulawayo’s Mater Dei hospital on Monday night after a long battle with cancer.
He is survived by five children. His wife, Zodwa, died in 2003.
Trudy Stevenson, who was one of the MDC’s founders and a former MP said on Tuesday: “When his feisty wife Zodwa was struggling with her own cancer, he was stoic in his support, but truly inconsolable.
“His last years were indeed lonely, despite his family and his many friends and colleagues, for the two of them were made only for each other. May they rest in peace, together again at last.”