All set for national hero Mzheri’s burial

President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa will preside over the burial of national hero Brigadier-General (Retired) Mpandasekwa Mzheri at the National Shrine today.

A church service was conducted at the family home in Helensvale, Harare, yesterday before the body is taken to Charles Gumbo Barracks, where it lay in state ahead of burial.

On Saturday, the body was airlifted to his rural home at Vutika Secondary School, under Chief Maziofa, in Mberengwa district, where thousands of relatives and friends paid their last respects.

In his address during a funeral parade on Thursday, Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Commander, Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Matatu, implored Zimbabweans to defend the country’s independence and sovereignty at all costs as a way of paying homage to illustrious sons and daughters of the soil such as Brig-Gen Mzheri.

“We must defend what they stood and fought for — Zimbabwe’s independence and sovereignty — at all costs,” said Lt-Gen Matatu.

Brig-Gen Mzheri, he said, belonged to the pioneering generation of military officers who laid the foundation for the modern ZNA.