BY RUGARE GUMBO We have learned with sorrow and sadness of the death of Cde Mukudzei Mudzi (94), the former executive secretary (general-secretary) of Dare reChimurenga of Zanu. Cde Mudzi’s death followed that of Cde Morton Malianga (91). The two were genuine war veterans. Our prayers and thoughts are with them. May their souls rest in eternal peace. Cde Mudzi and Cde Malianga were pioneers of the national liberation struggle, first as nationalists in Zimbabwe and later as guerrilla leaders outside the country. Malianga played a pivotal role in the formation of all the major political parties from National Democratic Party in 1960, the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union in 1962 and later the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) in 1963. I first met Malianga in 1962 in Salisbury Prison, where we were jailed under the Law and Order Maintenance Act with Simon Muzenda, E Dembedza, Goodson Sithole and others. When Zanu and PCC were banned in August 1964, Malianga was incarcerated at Salisbury, Gweru and Connemara detention centres. In 1974, he was one of the seven coup plotters against Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole in favour of the late Robert Mugabe at Connemara Prison. In November that year, he accompanied Mugabe for the abortive talks with frontline State leaders in Lusaka, Zambia. Mugabe and Malianga were dismissed and sent back to Zimbabwe when frontline leaders decided that Sithole was the legitimate leader of Zanu. He was released from prison in December 1974 when all Zimbabwean nationalists were released by the Ian Smith regime under the Zimbabwe Unity Accord. Malianga remained in the country until independence in 1980 and held several ministerial posts in the new government. When he retired, he lived in abject poverty with little support from the party or the government. Mudzi was an instrumental member of the Herbert Chitepo architect team that laid the foundation of Zanla and was also a leader of Zanu’s external wing as executive-secretary from 1971 to 1976 in Lusaka, Zambia. Mudzi represented a rare breed of young students who sacrificed the comfort and benefits of student life that accrued to Africans who had achieved high academic and professional qualifications to join Herbert Chitepo, Henry Hamadziripi, Noel Mukono and others to wage a war against the colonial settlers from 1964 to 1966. From there, he rose through the ranks of the party to become a member of the revolutionary council and then a member of Dare reChimurenga in 1971 to 1973. Mudzi will always be remembered for his honesty, humility, selflessness and strict adherence to the party line and discipline. His faithfulness and sincerity were recognised by the leadership and the entire party, and they entrusted him with the resources of the movement and handling the party’s funds. He never took anything for himself and if resources became inadequate, he would even dig into his pockets to support the movement. Chitepo, Hamadziripi, Mukono and even Josiah Tongogara relied entirely on Mudzi’s stewardship and integrity. In retrospect, we now recognise that