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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu Bulawayo Bureau

Struggle luminary CDE Simon Khaya Moyo will be buried on Monday at the National Heroes Acre in Harare following consultations between President Mnangagwa and the national hero’s family in Bulawayo yesterday.

The President visited the Khaya Moyo family in Hillside yesterday to pay his condolences. He was accompanied by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and Zanu-PF National Chairman, Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.

Cde Khaya Moyo (76), described as a true patriot, courageous and selfless freedom fighter, succumbed to cancer on Sunday at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo. He was declared a national hero on Monday in recognition of his contribution to the liberation and development of Zimbabwe.

Addressing scores of mourners, President Mnangagwa said Cde Khaya Moyo served both the party and country exceptionally well and was able to balance responsibilities at both levels for the betterment of the country.

He described Cde Khaya Moyo as a man who was close to his heart.

The President said it was of paramount importance for him to preside over the burial of the late Cde Khaya Moyo hence he requested the family to move the burial to Monday. The President is set to attend a meeting with his Zambian and Botswana counterparts in Kazungula, Botswana on Saturday.

“We have a meeting as SADC Heads of State in Botswana on Saturday where I will be meeting with my counterparts from Zambia and Botswana. So, I made a request to the family for the burial to be moved to Monday as I will be coming back on Sunday.

“I’m very grateful to the Moyo family who have accepted my request. I want to be there when Cde SK is laid to rest. I want to preside at the National Heroes Acre because we were so close and I wouldn’t want him to be buried when I’m away,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said besides coming a long way back with Cde Khaya Moyo as comrades, Cde Khaya Moyo was also his relative as the First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa was his cousin.

He said he started working with Cde Khaya Moyo in 1979 after they met at the Lancaster House Conference and they became close friends and that marked the beginning of their strong bond.

President Mnangagwa said he misses Cde Khaya Moyo dearly as he was a close friend and played a critical role in the party.

“We go way back with Cde SK. We have worked together with Cde SK since 1979 when we met while he was the assistant to Joshua Nkomo and I was the special advisor to Cde Robert Mugabe. He held various ministerial posts. He rose through the ranks in the party from being a Central Committee member up until he became a Politburo member. There is nothing Cde SK knew besides serving the people and the country. When the Second Republic came in, he became secretary for information and publicity in the Politburo,” said the President.

He said Cde Khaya Moyo also became one of the outstanding ambassadors in South Africa. The President said Cde Khaya Moyo was very intelligent and held his various posts with distinction.

He said the Government had done a lot to ensure that Cde Khaya Moyo got the best treatment. President Mnangagwa said the Government facilitated Cde Khaya Moyo’s travel to different countries to seek medical assistance, such as India and South Africa. The President said even during his time of sickness Cde Khaya Moyo was still eager to report for duty because of his zeal to serve the party and the nation. He said he however kept encouraging him to rest until he had fully recovered.

He said there had been no need for the Politburo to meet for him to declare Cde Khaya Moyo a national hero as it was obvious that he deserved the recognition because of his patriotic and noble works.

Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Cde Obert Mpofu said the President’s visit to the Moyo family was a sign of his humility and compassion as a leader.

Speaking on behalf of the family Cde Khaya Moyo’s brother, Isaac thanked the President for honouring his brother and mourning together with them.

“On behalf of the Moyo and Tshuma families we would like to extend our profound gratitude to the President for declaring a national hero status to our brother. We also appreciate that he has honoured our brother’s life works and contributions to the country’s development. We know you are a busy man but you have taken time to visit us and mourn with us. We don’t take this humble gesture for granted,” he said.

Mr Moyo said the body of his brother will be taken to his rural home in Sanzukwi in Mangwe District today where the local community will get an opportunity to bid him farewell.

Cde Khaya Moyo was a diplomat and former Cabinet minister, who served his apprenticeship as a young political secretary and long time loyal personal aide to liberation struggle icon the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo during the armed struggle. At the time of his death Cde Khaya Moyo was a Zanu PF Politburo member and the party’s national spokesperson as well as Senator for Bulilima and Mangwe constituencies.

Cde Khaya Moyo left the country for Lusaka in Zambia in 1968 to join the liberation struggle. While in Zambia, senior Zapu officials agreed to send him for studies. He was enrolled at the University of Zambia and in 1969 he graduated with a diploma in Social Sciences. The party then directed that Cde Khaya Moyo proceeds to Makerere University in East Africa to study towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science, which he completed in March 1973 with an upper second-class honour.

He lectured for a while in Uganda where he was also the party’s chief representative. In 1975, Cde Khaya Moyo returned to Lusaka where he was appointed secretary/special assistant to Dr Nkomo. He underwent military and intelligence training in the then Germany Democratic Republic (GDR), and had refresher courses in Cuba and the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), now Russia.

He became a member of the revolutionary council as well as member of the PF-Zapu Central Committee. Cde Khaya Moyo travelled widely with Dr Nkomo, attending several meetings such as the Geneva, Malta and Lancaster House conferences.

At independence in 1980, Cde Khaya Moyo became the assistant secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and was promoted to Under Secretary in the Ministry of Justice in 1983. In 1984, he was laterally transferred to the Ministry of Health, where he was later promoted to deputy permanent secretary in 1987.

He left Government service in 1989 to become the first Head of Corporate Affairs of the Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ) — a trust founded by Dr Nkomo.

Cde Khaya Moyo was elected Member of Parliament for Bulilimamangwe South in the 1990 general elections.

In 1992, Cde Khaya Moyo was appointed the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce.

In December 1994, Cde Khaya Moyo was appointed Deputy Secretary for Administration in the Politburo during the 20th Ordinary Session of the Central Committee, a position he held up to 2000. He was re-elected MP for Bulilimamangwe South in 1995 and was subsequently appointed Minister of Transport and Energy in May of the same year until 1997. As Minister of Transport and Energy, he pushed for the commencement of the construction of the new airport terminal at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (then Harare International Airport), which had been on the cards for years.

In July 1997, Cde Khaya Moyo took over as the Minister of Mines, Environment and Tourism, with one of his main tasks being to oversee the merger of the Ministries of Mines, Environment and Tourism.

In January 2001, he assumed a new role as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa, the Kingdom of Lesotho and Mauritius until 2005.

In July 2010, Cde Khaya Moyo left diplomatic service to concentrate on his role as the Zanu PF national chairman.

Cde Khaya Moyo was appointed Senior Minister of State without portfolio in September 2013. At the 6th Zanu PF National People’s Congress held in Harare in 2014, he was appointed Secretary for Information and Publicity of the party after the abolishment of the chairman’s post.

In 2017, he became the Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services after a Cabinet reshuffle. In January 2018, he was appointed Minister of Energy and Power Development and also doubled up as acting Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister before he was reassigned to the party headquarters on a full-time basis when President Mnangagwa announced a new Cabinet in September 2018.