Veterai conferred liberation hero status

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – Former Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) Senior Assistant Commissioner Edmore Veterai, who collapsed and died on
November 23, has been conferred a hero status by President Emmerson Dambudzo
Mnangagwa.

Veterai,
who was a key player in the sugar industry, was the chairperson of the Zimbabwe
Sugarcane Development Association (ZSDA), a farmer grouping which facilitated
the introduction of a certificate in sugarcane agriculture by the Great
Zimbabwe University (GZU).

A
letter signed by Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu shows that Veterai
was conferred a liberation hero status on November 24.

“His
Excellency, The President and First Secretary of Zanu PF Cde E.D Mnangagwa has
conferred a liberation Hero Status to the late Cde Edmore Gochai Veterai who
died on 23 November 2020 and will be buried at Farm Number 30, Hippo Valley,
Chiredzi. The family can be contacted through our Masvingo Provincial Office,”
reads the letter.

Edmore
Veterai was Secretary for Science and Technology in Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial
Coordination Committee (PCC).

On social media, however, Veterai divided opinion sharply; with some saying they will not mourn him owing to his alleged role in enforcing repression during the rule of former president, the late Robert Mugabe.

As officer commanding police in Matabeleland North, Veterai seized the late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s car and the car has not reportedly not been released to date.

He allegedly played a lead role in enforcing Operation Murambatsvina which rendered many people homeless in urban areas, and was also instrumental in brutalising opposition supporters.