Zapu ex-combatants have expressed frustration after the state failed to recognise Zodwa Dabengwa nee-Khumalo, the widow to the late liberation war stalwart, Dumiso Dabengwa, as a national heroine.

Her husband, the former Zipra intelligence supremo, died in Nairobi, Kenya in 2019 en-route to Zimbabwe from India where he had been taken for medical treatment.

He was declared a national hero and buried at his rural home in Ntabazinduna, Matabeleland North.

Zimbabwe Peoples’ Revolutionary Army (Zpra) Veterans Association secretary general, Petros Sibanda, said Zodwa also deserved national heroine status.

Zpra was the military wing of Zapu during the armed struggle.

“There is an issue of respecting or according to the hero status, but the way it is done in Zimbabwe does not satisfy us,” Sibanda said.

“Most of the comrades from Zipra have not been respected.

“I believe the matter of whether she is a heroine or not cannot be debated any further."

Sibanda made the remarks during a Zapu rally held in Bulawayo last week.

A number of Zapu veterans such as the late vice-president Joseph Msika used to question the way Zpra’s history was documented.

An organisation linked to Zapu, Mafela Trust, at one time tried to document Zpra’s history but the efforts never went anywhere.

According to Zapu and Zpra, the distortions have led to failure by government to recognise a number of its unsung heroes, some of whom are interred at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo. 

Some of the former Zpra and Zapu stalwarts that were not recognised include  Lookout Masuku and Thenjiwe Lesabe.

Masuku was a Zpra commander.

He died in 1986 after his release from prison where he had been jailed for 4 years under emergency regulations despite a Supreme Court ruling clearing him of charges of planning to dethrone the late former prime minister Robert Mugabe.

Lesabe, a former Zanu PF politburo member and cabinet minister died in 2011, years after quitting Zanu PF with Dabengwa to re-launch Zapu.

Zpra ex-combatants have been demanding their war records that were seized by the government in the 80’s from the National Archives in Harare.

They say this may ensure their due recognition.

Among the seized records and materials are cassettes with original recordings of Zapu war songs.