Zimpapers Logo

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
Government is seized with Zifa’s request to confer national hero status to former Dynamos and national team defender David “Yogi” Mandigora.

Mandigora died on Saturday from a peripheral vein disease, which is a blood circulation disorder at the age of 64 and was buried at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare on Tuesday.

National hero status can still be conferred posthumously.

Zifa last week wrote a letter to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) requesting that independent Zimbabwe’s first Soccer Star of the Year in 1980 be conferred with national hero status, arguing that he had a huge impact on the face of local football from the colonial days when the sport was used to challenge colonial rule.

He was also a successful coach with DeMbare leading them to the league title in 2007 and the (Caf) Champions League semi-finals in 2008.

An official from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation Ignatious Kuwadzana Vambe told Chronicle Sport that the request had been forwarded to “our principals” and they should be feedback soon.

“I can confirm we received a request (from the SRC) and the issue has been taken up with our principals and we should be able to get feedback soon,” said Vambe.

He said “a lot of issues have to be taken into consideration before coming up with a final decision”.

The late Adam Ndlovu

No sportsperson has ever been conferred with national hero status in Zimbabwe.

In 2012, the Zan-PF and MDC leadership from Matabeleland requested that the late Highlanders and national team legend Adam Ndlovu be declared a national hero but the request was turned down.