Story by ZBC Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S liberation struggle was not going to be successful without astute planning and organisation.
On 24 August 2013, the man who was part of the liberation struggle’s organising team, Cde Kumbirai Kangai breathed his last and was to be buried a few days later at the National Heroes Acre.
He might be gone, but who was this man?
Born in 1938 in Buhera, Cde Kumbirai Kangai grew up to become one of the think tanks behind the execution of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
In the 1960s, Cde Kangai became part of mainstream nationalist politics, when he joined the ZANU branch based in Dar es Salam Tanzania.
At the height of the Second Chimurenga, he and other ZANU leaders relocated to Mozambique where they directed training of liberation war fighters from there.
It is during this time that he worked in ZANU’s Dare ReChimurenga as the Director of Transport and Logistics, a capacity that enabled him to solicit humanitarian aid from Nordic countries such as Sweden to sustain the struggle.
During the ceasefire in 1978, Cde Kangai became part of the ZANU negotiating team at Lancaster House alongside other nationalist leaders such as Cde Robert Mugabe, Cde Edgar Tekere, Cde Eddison Zvobgo and Cde Josiah Magama Tongogara.
At independence in 1980, Cde Kangai was elected legislator for Buhera and in government, he held several positions that include being the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare and Minister of Agriculture.
He died on 24 August 2013 and was declared a national hero in honour of his sacrifice to the liberation of the country and its development in the post-colonial era.
