Air Vice Marshal (Retired) Winnie Mandeya, who passed away on Monday, has been declared a national heroine.
ZANU PF National Political Commissar, Munyaradzi Machacha, conveyed the message to her family on Tuesday evening, saying the Government is prepared to inter her at the National Heroes Acre on Wednesday, pending the family’s approval. Said Machacha:
The national heroine has been granted the highest recognition of national heroine and she will be buried together with other heroes and heroines at the National Heroes Acre. We were looking to have her buried on Friday May 2, pending agreement with the family.
If the family is comfortable with that, then Government will start doing the necessary in terms of arrangements.
AVM Mandeya joined the liberation struggle on 29 September 1975, receiving her basic military training at Nachingweya in Tanzania. She was later deployed to Gaza Province, where she served until 1978, before being selected to pursue a nursing course.
Following Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, AVM Mandeya began her post-war service in the President’s Department, where she played a key role in the 1981 Commission of Inquiry into missing persons.
On 1 July 1984, she transferred to the Air Force of Zimbabwe, where she served with distinction for decades, ultimately rising through the ranks before retiring from active duty.
AVM Mandeya passed away at the age of 64 at St Anne’s Hospital in Harare.
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