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MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) founding father Gibson Sibanda was described by all parties in the inclusive government as an outstanding politician before and after Zimbabwe’s independence.
But the recognition he was given after his death last week does not come anywhere close to that accorded to President Robert Mugabe’s two relatives who died during the same month.
Sibanda who succumbed to cancer on Monday aged 66 will be given a state-assisted funeral at his rural Filabusi home today after the Zanu PF politburo refused to entertain any calls for him to be declared a national hero.
In sharp contrast, Reward Marufu, a brother to Grace Mugabe who died on Wednesday at his farm in Bindura a few days later was quickly declared a provincial hero.
A few weeks ago, President Mugabe buried his sister, Sabina at the National Heroes Acre after she was unilaterally declared a heroine by the Zanu PF politburo shortly after her death.
Sabina’s status sparked debate with the two MDC formations arguing that the new political dispensation required that a non-partisan body be constituted to decide on the conferment of the hero status.
Last week Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa told the state media that Zanu PF had the sole right to decide on who gets buried at the shrine because its government built the Heroes Acre.
Although the argument by Mutasa sounded daft, analysts said it came as no surprise that Sibanda was denied the hero status because of Zanu PF’s known track record of intolerance.
Jack Zaba, a Harare-based political analyst said the treatment of Marufu who will be best remembered for claiming huge sums of money from the War Veterans Compensation Fund after claiming 95% disability and Sibanda whose heroism was undisputed exposed the flaws in the process of selecting national heroes.
“It is clear that Sibanda befits being a hero in many senses but it came as no surprise to me that Zanu PF could not see the heroism in him,” Zaba said.
“The juxtaposition of Gibson Sibanda’s denial and Reward Marufu’s conferment as a hero is greatly instructive in many senses as it succinctly exposes Zanu PF’s conception of heroes, much as it shows its reluctance to embrace political competitors as befitting citizens of this great nation.”
He said the issue of heroism had a false start at independence because it was informed by Zanu PF’s failed ambition of creating a one party state.
“To them a hero is one whose history and lifestyle dovetails along the shadow of the party and its supreme leader President Mugabe.
“Any deviation from the party and the leader automatically disqualifies one from being a hero.”
Sibanda who was a prominent trade union leader before independence and was arrested several times by the Rhodesian government for his activities joins a long list of illustrious Zimbabweans who were denied hero status because they disagreed with Mugabe.
The list includes Zanu PF founder Ndabaningi Sithole, James Chikerema, Patrick Kombayi and Henry Hamadziripi.
Several Zipra commanders were given the status posthumously after the signing of the Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu PF in 1987.
Trevor Maisiri, the director of the Africa Reform Institute said by denying Sibanda the hero status, Mugabe and Zanu PF had missed a golden opportunity to allay fears that the national shrine had been personalised.
The snub also raised fresh questions about the unity of purpose in the unity government and on who really calls the shots.
“For Zanu PF to solely deny Sibanda some form of recognition as a hero really depicts some negation of the nation-building fundamentals and reconciliatory aspects that are supposed to have come with the institution of the government of national unity,” Maisiri said.
“This action shows the non-committal perspective of Zanu PF to sharing nationhood with other Zimbabweans who have the same birthright and accord but may however belong to different political persuasions.”
Maisiri said there was a “rare strand of heroism that comes with Sibanda’s life”
He said Sibanda was the best example of what a hero must be as he had a multiplicity of exploits of heroism.
Firstly he was involved in the pre-independence era in the liberation movement with PF Zapu.
He was also part of the cog of the worker rights movement in Zimbabwe and was also pivotal in the pro-democracy movement after independence.
“It is rare to get a person who has a mould of such diverse involvement in the generality of the advancement of socio-economic and political development of the nation,” Maisiri said.
Sibanda, a former employee of the National Railways of Zimbabwe helped form the MDC in 1999 while still the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
He became Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s deputy until 2005 after the party split into two.
The veteran trade unionist was elected Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s deputy in the smaller MDC formation.
At the time of his death he was one of the three ministers responsible for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration.
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI
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