Story by Mhlomuli Ncube, Assistant News Editor
THE final journey of national hero Samuel Mpabanga begins this Monday as his body is taken to his rural home in Mapate, Gwanda, where relatives and community members will gather to pay their last respects.
Family spokesperson Mr Lot Mpabanga said the late Brigadier General (Retired) will first pass through his farm in West Nicholson before proceeding to Mapate, where the body will lie in state until Tuesday.
“We will go through West Nicholson at his farm then proceed to Mapate. A service will be held there before the body is brought back to Bulawayo. We expect that it will then be flown on Tuesday for burial at the National Heroes Acre,” he said.
The decorated liberation war veteran, who died on February 9 after a long illness, will be laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Zambia, Charity Charamba, has conveyed her condolences to the Mpabanga family, describing the late Brigadier General as a committed cadre who worked tirelessly to strengthen defence cooperation between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
In a statement, Ambassador Charamba said Brigadier General Mpabanga played a key role in fostering bilateral relations during his tenure as Defence Attaché in Zambia between 2016 and 2022. She noted that he was instrumental in managing and preserving Zimbabwe’s liberation war shrines in Zambia and coordinated visits by various stakeholders to sites where national heroes and heroines are buried.
He also advanced collaboration between the two sister republics under the Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security.
Brigadier General (Rtd) Mpabanga, whose Chimurenga name was Moffat Nkomo, was 69 at the time of his death. He had a distinguished record during the liberation struggle and the post-independence period, serving with distinction in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
He is survived by his wife, Sethekele, and four children.
