The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zanu-PF Bulawayo Province says it is still awaiting clarification on which province the late Cde Cyril Enock Ndebele belonged to before deciding on recommending the former Speaker of Parliament’s hero status.
Cde Ndebele (83) died on Friday in Harare after being airlifted from Mater Dei Hospital where he had been admitted for an undisclosed ailment.
Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairperson Cde Dennis Ndlovu said the province was yet to take a position on recommending Cde Ndebele’s hero’s status.
“The position of Cde Ndebele to us is not clear. We are not sure if he belongs to Matabeleland South Province or us. Midlands Province may also want to say they worked with him and he belongs to them. We are awaiting clarification on that before we take a position,” he said.
At the time of his death, Cde Ndebele was the chairperson of the Peace and Reconciliation Commission a position he assumed in February this year. Cde Ndebele served as the Speaker of Parliament between 1995 and 2000. He joined the African National Congress in South Africa in 1960 while a student at the University of Natal. He earned a law degree from Queens University, Belfast, in 1970.
Cde Ndebele became Zapu chairperson in 1970 after returning to the country. He was a member of the legal team of the Patriotic Front in the Geneva, Malta and Lancaster House conferences, leading to the country’s independence in 1980.
After independence, he was a councillor in Bulawayo and after the Unity Accord in 1987, he became an MP in 1990. As a law maker, he was the chairperson of the Privileges Committee and the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
After he became the Speaker of Parliament in 1995, he created the Parliamentary Reform Committee, paving way for far reaching changes to the Legislative Assembly. He is survived by his wife, children and several grandchildren. Mourners are gathered at his Bulawayo residence at Plot 7B in Woodville suburb.
