BULAWAYO – Long-time former Zanu PF Youth League secretary Absolom Sikhosana has died.
He was 71.
Sikhosana, who sat on the Zanu PF politburo, died on Friday night at the United Bulawayo Hospitals, according to Judith Ncube, Bulawayo’s provincial affairs minister.
The cause of death was unknown, although Sikhosana has been in and out of hospital in recent years. He was admitted to the hospital on Monday, May 11.
Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu said Sikhosana – ridiculed for his long service as secretary for Zanu PF youths, and remembered as former President Robert Mugabe’s favourite Ndebele interpreter – “was loved by everyone and loved everyone too.”
“He was unflinching in his resolve to serve the party and when he was leader of the youths, there was so much discipline in the party,” Mpofu told the Bulawayo Chronicle.
“He never veered off the revolutionary path. Because of his discipline, he was made interim chairman of Bulawayo (Zanu PF) despite being a politburo member while they fix their structures, and there was now order in Bulawayo because Cde Sikhosana sat the helm.”
Ncube said Sikhosana, a liberation war veteran, “was friendly to everybody, free to talk to anytime.”
“He was that type of a leader, and leading from behind. We have lost a great man,” she said.
Sikhosana is expected to be declared a national hero by the Zanu PF politburo.
In 2018, Sikhosana was left hospitalised after having two accidents in the same day. He hit a pushcart street hawker and then drove him to hospital. Leaving the man in hospital to drop off his pushcart at his home, Sikhosana’s pick-up truck was hit by another car which jumped a dual-carriageway into his lane, killing the other driver.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) general manager Brigadier General Crispan Masuku who died on Wednesday at the United Bulawayo Hospitals has been declared a national hero after his burial.
Masuku, who was 61, was buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo on Friday – hours before Mpofu arrived at the Masuku home in Malindela to inform the family that he had been accorded the honour.
Mpofu blamed the coronavirus outbreak which he said “made processes (of consulting politburo members) much more difficult as we are working remotely while we practise social distancing.”
Individuals declared national heroes are normally buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, but many are increasingly snubbing burial at shrine – notably former President Robert Mugabe, former ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa and former NUST vice chancellor Professor Makhurane who all died in the last two years.
