SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Kumbirai Kangai, the ZANU PF Politburo member and former cabinet minister who died in Harare over the weekend, has been declared a national hero and will be buried on Saturday. The 75 year-old Kangai collapsed at his Glen Forest house on Saturday morning. He was rushed to Corporate 24 Clinic in the city where he was pronounced dead on arrival from a suspected heart attack. Kangai died at a time when ZANU PF was still mourning the deaths of one of its founding members, Enos Nkala, and retired air commodore Mike Karakadzai, the general manager of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Both were declared national heroes by their party’s politburo and Karakadzai was buried on Sunday while Nkala will be buried on Thursday One of the highest-ranking commanders in Zimbabwe’s liberation movement fighting against British colonial rule in the 1970s, Kangai held various government positions after independence in 1980 including minister of Agriculture and Labour. During his time in government he became the first cabinet minister to be arrested on corruption charges. He was dropped from Cabinet in 2000 after he was embroiled in a multi-million dollar tendering procedures scandal at the state-run Grain Marketing Board, although he was acquitted by the courts. However Kangai continued holding senior positions in the party including as ZANU PF secretary for external affairs.