Ntuliki declared national hero
Cde Ntuliki

Cde Ntuliki

Abigail Mawonde Herald Correspondent
Assistant Director in the President’s Department in Charge of the Western Region, Cde Zenzo Ntuliki, who died last Friday, has been declared a national hero.
He was 58.
Cde Ntuliki will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Saturday.

Home Affairs Minister and Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Ignatius Chombo confirmed the development in an interview with The Herald yesterday.

“I can confirm that Cde Zenzo Ntuliki has been declared national hero and he will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Saturday,” he said.

“He is a war veteran and party members have endorsed that he be conferred national hero status.”

The conferment follows a request by Zanu-PF Matabeleland South Province.

Cde Ntuliki died at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo after a long illness.

The western region, which he was responsible for, covers Bulawayo, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands provinces.

An accomplished war veteran, Cde Ntuliki, whose war pseudo name was Maphekapheka, joined the President’s Department soon after independence in 1980.

He worked in various portfolios until the time of his death.

Cde Ntuliki was born on August 8, 1959 in Gwanda District’s Matshetsheni area in Matabeleland South. He grew up in Mawabeni in Esigodini where he did his primary education. For his secondary education, he went to Gwanda High School which he left in 1974 when he was in Form Three to join the armed struggle in Zambia via Botswana. He was 15 when he went to the war.

Those who either knew or worked with Cde Ntuliki have described him as a hard working cadre.

The Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, former Political Detainees and Restrictees, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube told our sister paper The Sunday News that: “He was a very hard working cadre who joined the struggle and was working on the intelligence side. We have lost a dedicated man indeed.”

The former Zipra chief of military intelligence, Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane, said although Cde Ntuliki joined the armed struggle at a tender age of 15, he soldiered on and kept pace during the rigorous guerilla training at Morogoro Camp in Tanzania in 1976.

“He was part of the group of 800 which was the first biggest group to undergo training when Zipra was still building its force,” he said. “Before that, the biggest group that had undergone training was made up of 137 recruits.

“However, more bigger groups followed immediately after that made up of thousands of recruits.”

Rtd Brig Gen Mazinyane said after completing the guerilla training, Cde Ntuliki was inducted to the Military Intelligence Department at CGT Camp where he worked as a security officer under the wing of Cde Busobenyoka, who had trained with Minister Kembo Mohadi.

The CGT Camp was under the command of the current Zimbabwe National Army commander, Lt-General Philip Valerio Sibanda. Cde Ntuliki was later sent for specialised training in intelligence in Bulgaria and he was the leader of his group.  Cde Ntuliki is survived by eight children, three girls and five boys and six grandchildren. Mourners are gathered at his residence, Number 19 Kildare Road in Burnside, Bulawayo.

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