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defending the country in her own way. Please confer heroine status,” wrote one reader on the Herald website.

This was one of the many messages that were posted in honour of the late Mbuya Matadzisei Tangwena (82), the wife of the late Senator Chief Rekayi Tangwena.

Surely Mbuya Tangwena will be sorely missed. She will be remembered for her immense contribution in the fight for people of Tangwena against the colonial regime, and for housing and directing guerillas on how to enter and leave Zimbabwe through the area.  Many comrades who used that part of the country to leave Zimbabwe for the liberation struggle were either assisted by her or ate from her pots. She was prepared to give advice and to feed all those who passed through the area. Her role cannot be ignored by right minded people.

That was Mbuya Tangwena, a humble woman who refused to back down the fight when the odds were against her, contributing so much to ensure the liberation of Tangwena people. Mbuya Tangwena never second guessed putting her own life at grave risk by assisting young men and women leaving and returning to and fro Mozambique during the liberation struggle.

The old woman from the east breathed her last at Parirenyatwa Hospital a fortnight ago succumbing to high blood pressure and was buried in her beloved Tangwena area.

Mbuya Tangwena’s position in the struggle for the Tangwena land was unequalled. As history says she helped engineer and perfect resistance of Rhodesian efforts to push the Tangwena people off the land along Gaeresi River to make way for white farmers. Together with her husband, the late national hero Chief Rekayi Tangwena, Mbuya Tangwena objected to the white settler regime’s attempts to relocate them to the semi-arid Gokwe and later chose to stay in the mountains. For such a move the Tangwena people endured the brutality of the Rhodesian security forces that would occasionally forage the area for the Tangwenas.

The Tangwena land had been designated as European land in 1930 though a few settlers were interested in the area, so Tangwena people remained there as squatters. The real battles only started in the late 1960s when William Hammer, the director of the Gaeresi Ranch Company, served the Tangwena people notices of eviction in 1965. This meant the people of Tangwena had to move to pave way for the new owners. The colonial government offered the Tangwena a home 650km away in Gokwe but offer was turned down. For Mbuya Tangwena and her husband life meant nothing if their people had no rights to their inheritance, the land, hence need to resist forced relocation.

Born on December 11, 1930, Mbuya Tangwena married the late Chief Tangwena in 1945. She was declared a liberation heroine and was buriedi n the Tangwena area, the land that she fought for.

Mbuya Tangwena stood resolutely by her husband to lead the Tangwena people against the might of the Rhodesian army. Between  May 1967 and 1969 Chief Tangwena was charged  eight times with illegally occupation of European land, refused to vacate the area and would come in the night to rebuild their homes razed to ground by the colonial police. She gave the late Chief Tangwena the support and is largely accredited with being a pillar of support for the late national hero.

The woman of steel at one time led a group of women that protested the arrest of her husband Chief Tangwena. For this she was badly beaten and left with a torn dress at the hands of the Rhodesian policemen. Fearing that Chief Tangwena would be murdered by the colonial police, Mbuya Tangwena again led other women to the District Commisioner’s Offices at Nyanga to demand the release of her husband.

Bare-breasted they protested the arrest of their leader and had to scuffle with police. They taunted the police, singing and ululating. Some women even stripped of the little clothing that they had and rubbed dust on their bodies in protest at the arrest of the chief. As a result of the demonstration,

Chief Tangwena and others were released and the charges dropped.

A spirit medium herself, Mbuya Tangwena was prompted to assist thousands of guerrillas to cross into Mozambique and hide from the marauding Rhodesian security forces who had made the area their playground. The Tangwena family helped President Robert Mugabe and Cde Edgar Tekere to cross into Mozambique in 1975 to take over command of the liberation struggle. Both President

Mugabe and the late Tekere confirmed her role in their departure to Mozambique at the height of the struggle.

As Cde Mugabe recounted in an interview with Power FM at eve of his 82nd birthday in 2006: “It was on Saturday morning and we decided to leave in the afternoon of that day. Old Tangwena, late now, Chief (Rekayi) Tangwena at whose home we had slept was instructed by his wife to lead us. Mai Tangwena vaisvikirwa, vakati zvanzi izvo iwe Tangwena pachako tungamirira vana ava. So he accompanied us. There we were, we had two young men carrying our bags and I think there were five of us and we decided to cross the border.”

Cde Tekere in his book, “A Lifetime of the Struggle”, wrote: “We stayed in the forest, looked after by Tangwena’s wife.

“It was misty with a light drizzle, and so she was able to light a fire to cook for us, without smoke being seen by our pursuers. Mbuya Tangwena called on us to join her in traditional prayers, and take snuff, as is the tradition in Zimbabwe. Tangwena was waiting for his wife to give the signal for us to move. She was a spirit medium, a host to Sekuru Dzeka Tangwena, her father-in-law. On the second day, at around seven in the evening, Mbuya Tangwena became possessed with the spirit, and instructed us to leave. She told Chief Tangwena to take us to Tangadza, another sub-chief of the Tangwena dynasty, who was living on the Mozambican side of the border. She ordered her husband to take us by the most difficult path, at which he demurred, but the old lady told the great chief, ‘You just do it, or these people will be caught’.”

That was the mark of a woman of charisma, leadership and conviction. Mbuya Tangwena was a symbol of the struggle for  by the female folks in the area.

Mbuya Tangwena was the mother of the people of Tangwena and is celebrated for taking care of the children who sought refuge at her Nyafaru Farm after their parents had either been arrested or fled to Mozambique for the liberation war.

One  of the children who grew under the care of Mbuya Tangwena Retired Brigadier Eliot Kasu, described her as a caring mother who was able to unite the Tangwena family during the most difficult time.

“The Tangwena people went through a torrid time at the hands of the Rhodesian government. Mbuya Tangwena was instrumental in uniting the people of Tangwena. As you can imagine with all the arrests and harassments, even the chief was under a lot of pressure and that required a strong        woman like Mbuya Tangwena to unite the people.

“She always offered motherly advice to her people. After most parents have either crossed to Mozambique or arrested Mbuya Tangwena became the mother of all children that were housed at Nyafaru Farm. She was was respected in the community and could be consulted for advise by the people even in his old age.

“During the armed struggle, Nyafaru Farm was a transit point for those going to join the war in Mozambique. These people came from Harare, Buhera and Mutare among other areas and Mbuya Tangwena was responsible for providing spiritual guidance and food for the people going and returning for liberation struggle.

“As a people of Tangwena we are saddened,” said Rtd Brig Kasu.

Mr John Tangwena, one of the two surviving sons of Chief Tangwena, said: “We are happy that Zanu-PF Manicaland Province had requested that she be declared a national heroine. It is a great honour to be considered for such a place. Our wish was that she be buried beside her husband at the National Heroes Acre.  I remember the role she played during the liberation struggle. Besides standing by her husband against the Rhodesian rule, she was a brave soldier”.

Mbuya Tangwena was declared a liberation heroine and was buried last Thursday in Nyanga.
Announcing the position, Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said the Politburo felt that Ambuya Tangwena was not an active politician but more of a spirit medium for Tangwena people.

“Her role was limited to dealing with Chief Tangwena. Politburo felt she does not qualify to be a national heroine but would be given State assisted funeral as a liberation heroine,” he said.

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