National hero Kabasa burial tomorrow

Harare Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will preside over the burial of national hero Cde Abraham Kabasa at the National Heroes Acre tomorrow on his return from the United Kingdom, where he was attending the coronation of King Charles III.

Cde Kabasa succumbed to prostate cancer on April 29. He was 91. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage said a church service for the late former Mashonaland East Governor will be held this morning in Waterfalls, Harare. Yesterday, scores of people attended a funeral parade held in his honour at Chikondoma Stadium in Mutoko.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage wishes to advise the nation that the late national hero, Cde Abraham Kabasa, who passed away on April 29, will be laid to rest on Monday, May 8, 2023 at the National Heroes Acre. A church service for the late national hero shall be held tomorrow (today) at Number 44 Wickham Road, Uplands, Waterfalls, in Harare commencing at 10am. The body of the hero will thereafter be taken back to Charles Gumbo Barracks, where it will lie in state.”

The ministry said the burial will be attended by other senior dignitaries, including Vice-President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga, and Zanu-PF Vice-President and Second Secretary Cde Kembo Mohadi. Speaking during yesterday’s funeral service in Mutoko, Senate President Cde Mabel Chinomona described Cde Kabasa as a dedicated cadre, who worked tirelessly for the ruling party up to the time of his death.

“I urge everyone to emulate Cde Kabasa, who worked tirelessly for the ruling Zanu-PF party and indeed his nation. Those in leadership must unite people and work hard for the party. If our party is divided, then the enemy will infiltrate it. I would like to thank His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, for according national hero status to Cde Kabasa, making him the first comrade to receive such an honour in Mutoko.”

Mashonaland East Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Apolonia Munzverengi, Zanu-PF Central Committee members, Mutoko District Co-ordinating Committee members and Government officials attended yesterday’s service. Cde Kabasa’s body was flown back to Harare yesterday afternoon. Born on December 22, 1932, Cde Kabasa was a holder of a Standard Six qualification. He trained as a nurse at the then Salisbury General Hospital (now Sally Mugabe Central Hospital) and was also a laboratory and dental technician.

Cde Kabasa worked as a nurse employed by the Ministry of Health for 25 years at district hospitals in Marondera, Bindura, Binga and Mutoko. He was driven into political activism by the racial segregation and discrimination in the colonial administration’s Ministry of Health and civil service. It pushed him to become an active member of the nurses association.

At the height of the liberation struggle, Cde Kabasa was in charge of Makosa Rural Hospital in Mutoko, where he became heavily involved in the struggle by supplying medicines to comrades. He was also involved in mobilising people to join the liberation struggle. For his activities, he was later detained for three years at Mutoko Prison.

At Independence, he became a Member of Parliament, deputy speaker and chairperson of committees in Parliament, as well as chairperson of the Union of Zimbabwe African Parliamentarians, and also member of the African Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Cde Kabasa is survived by wife Miriam and 14 children.