President Emmerson Mnangagwa has conferred national hero status on the late Ambassador Victor Matemadanda, describing him as a dedicated liberation war veteran who went on to play a leadership role within the country’s liberation veterans’ movement after Independence.
The announcement was delivered to the Matemadanda family on Sunday night by Zanu PF Politburo member Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
President Mnangagwa also extended his condolences to the bereaved family following the death of Ambassador Matemadanda on Saturday. The veteran politician and diplomat, who served as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Mozambique and Eswatini, was 66 years old.
In his condolence message, the President reflected on Matemadanda’s contribution to the liberation struggle and his lifelong commitment to national service.
“I learnt with deep grief and sadness of the untimely demise on Saturday night of Cde Victor Matemadanda, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the sister Republics of Mozambique and Eswatini.
“A war veteran who became part of the leadership of the association of our Liberation Veterans after Independence, the late Cde Matemadanda’s association with nationalist politics and the National Liberation Struggle for our Independence dated back to his youthful days as part of the Zimbabwean migrant community, which had settled in Zambia to escape persecution and inhibitions in the then-settler colonial Rhodesia,” he said.
The President noted that Matemadanda left the security of life in Zambia to actively participate in the liberation struggle. He initially helped mobilise assistance for freedom fighters and refugees based in camps across Zambia and Mozambique, including initiatives associated with the late Cde Patrick Kombayi.
As his involvement deepened, Matemadanda became engaged in logistical operations, helping transport military supplies to strategic operational points using heavy vehicles.
President Mnangagwa said Matemadanda continued serving the nation after Independence through the Zimbabwe National Army.
“At Independence, Cde Matemadanda would join the Zimbabwe National Army, in which role he served his country with loyalty and utmost distinction.
“After leaving the army, he continued to advance the interests of the party, and war veterans through the Veterans Association, which he helped lead,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President also highlighted Matemadanda’s advocacy on behalf of liberation war veterans, saying his efforts to champion their welfare and greater representation within party structures often came at a personal cost.
“His principled stance in defence of the interests of our war veterans, including their welfare and substantive incorporation into Party structures, led to his repeated incarceration under the First Republic”.
Matemadanda later rose to become Zanu PF’s National Political Commissar, a position in which the President said he injected renewed energy into the party during a period of transformation.
According to President Mnangagwa, the late ambassador brought fresh momentum to the organisation as it sought to move away from what he described as entrenched stagnation that had developed over time under the First Republic.
“Later, as National Political Commissar, he brought exceptional vibrancy to the Party, which at the time sought to put behind it the largely fossilised ethos and inertia which had developed over time under the First Republic.”
