The late Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
Brigadier-General Misheck Tanyanyiwa, who died last week in Beijing, China, has been declared a national hero and will buried at the National Heroes Acre on Sunday.Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa, who was Zimbabwe’s Defence Attaché to China at the time of his death, was conferred with national hero status by the Zanu-PF Politburo at its meeting in Harare yesterday.
Announcing the decision, Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa made immense contribtuions to the country during the liberation struggle and after the attainment of independence in 1980.
Cde Gumbo said, “First of all we discussed the hero status of Brigadier-General Tanyanyiwa, our former military attaché in China.
“He was declared national hero and will be buried at the national shrine on Sunday, the 8th of December.”
Cde Gumbo said a team of senior Zanu-PF officials led by the party’s secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa and fellow Politburo members Cdes Sydney Sekeramayi and Emmerson Mnangagwa would visit the Tanyanyiwa family today to formally inform them of the conferment of hero status.
“We had a long obituary about him and he was in the army since 1976 and was a freedom fighter,” he said. “He rose through the ranks to become Brigadier-General,” Cde Gumbo added.
Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa joined the liberation war in Mozambique in 1975 and underwent military training at Mgagao Training Centre in Tanzania under the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) in 1976.
After training, he participated in the struggle in different appointments and later played a pivotal role in the integration of the Zimbabwe National Army, transforming the Rhodesia Light Infantry to 1 Commando Battalion. It was a battalion that he was to soon afterwards head as its first ex-combatant black commanding officer.
Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa headed the Zimbabwe delegation to the DRC Joint Military Commission and was instrumental in the Lusaka ceasefire negotiations that brought peace to that country in 2003 after five years of war.
“Later in his career, he was appointed the Zimbabwe Defence Attaché to China, a post he held until his untimely death,” read a statement from the Ministry of Defence after the national hero’s death.
Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa was born on May 13, 1955 in Bindura where he attained his junior certificate at Bradley Secondary School in 1971.
He completed his ordinary level through correspondence after independence.
Brig-Gen Tanyanyiwa was awarded several medals during his long service in the military. Among these are the Liberation, Independence, Ten Years Service, Long and Exemplary Service, Mozambique Campaign, and the Democratic Republic of Congo Campaign medals, as well as the Grand Officer of the Zimbabwe Order of Merit Award.