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Herald Reporter
Thousands of Zimbabweans from across the country, yesterday thronged the National Heroes Acre to pay their last respects to national hero and Zanu-PF Politburo member, Cde Stanley Sakupwanya, who died on Tuesday at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
Cde Sakupwanya, who was a Senator in Manicaland until July 2013, was the Zanu-PF secretary for welfare for disabled and disadvantaged persons.
Yesterday’s proceedings commenced with Acting President Joice Mujuru, leading mourners at Stodart Hall in Mbare, the ceremonial home of the liberation struggle in the morning.

Zapu leader and former Zanu-PF Politburo member Dr Dumiso Dabengwa was one of the notable people present from the opposition both at Stodart Hall and National Heroes Acre to pay homage to the national hero.

The MDC formations officials were conspicuous by their absence. As early as 8am, Zanu-PF Mbare Chimurenga Choir and other choral groups were entertaining a huge crowd at Stodart Hall .

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces arrived with the hearse at Stodart Hall around 9am, accompanied by relatives and Zanu-PF provincial chairperson for Manicaland Cde John Mvundura among other executives from the province.

Proceedings started in earnest at the national shrine mid-morning with United Methodist Minister of Religion, Reverend Ronnie Nyakuengeni, reading the scriptures.
Then came Cde Sakupwanya’s younger brother Stanford, who gave a family history of the national hero.

Stanford told mourners that his brother‘s early life saw him working for a firm that made him travel to Zambia and neighbouring countries.
The extensive travels enabled him to secure dynamites that would enable him to sabotage the settler regime of Ian Smith, a situation that saw him fleeing the country after the Rhodesian government began to close in.

The threat from the Rhodesian forces back home and his decision to join the liberation struggle, saw him failing to attend his mother’s funeral in 1975 and had to meet relatives in Botswana.

He said Cde Sakupwanya’s ailment, to which he succumbed, stemmed from a road accident he had in 2010. The accident, said the younger brother, had an effect on Cde Sakupwanya’s brain, something that saw him in and out of hospitals locally and abroad.

At one point he had to go to Cuba for medical attention.
Yesterday’s event was attended by Government ministers, Harare mayor Mr Bernard Manyenyeni, diplomats and services chiefs and other senior Government officials.