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Freedom Mupanedemo, Midlands Bureau
THE Zanu–PF Midlands provincial leadership has applied for a National Hero status for war veteran and senior intelligence officer in the President’s Office, Cde Charles Gumbo who died at Midlands Private Hospital on Tuesday.

Cde Gumbo had since the liberation struggle, been battling a complicated skin disease which he contracted after wearing poisoned clothes.  He was 63.

Initially, the ruling party’s provincial leadership had applied for the liberation war hero status which was granted and burial had been set for today at his North Wood Farm in Chivhu, Mashonaland East.

Chairperson of the Midlands National War Veterans’ Association, Cde Virginia Mpasu said the late Cde Gumbo’s liberation war credential deserved National Hero status.

“The liberation war hero status had been granted but we have since been assisted by the Office of the President to apply for the National Hero Status after a re-look into his role in the liberation war,” she said.

By yesterday all was set for the burial of Cde Gumbo at his farm but his relatives and the President’s Department in the Midlands province was later to be advised to halt the process and wait for the response to the National Hero status request.

Midlands Provincial Intelligence Officer Cde Regis Veremu and Cde Gumbo’s relatives said they were now awaiting guidance. “We are waiting for the response.  A National Hero status request has been sent to Harare.

I think by tomorrow morning, we will have the direction,” said Cde Veremu.

He described Cde Gumbo as a humble and  intelligence officer who worked hard for the country with serious commitment to duty. “He was very hard working, he spent most of his time in Beitbridge where we met several times in the field before I then met him in the Midlands when I was posted here. He was committed to duty and would not do follow-ups on him.

“He had this problem which he suffered during the liberation struggle and I knew when he did not report for duty that he was surely not feeling well. He did not harass people and was very humble but very frank,” he said

Born in 1954, Cde Gumbo joined the liberation struggle in 1975, going out of the country through Plumtree Border Post to Botswana.

He was arrested in Botswana and was later flown to Zambia where he was put on remand prison together with other liberation cadres.

After his release, he was sent to Tanzania to do commando training before he was sent to Morogoro for further training. After Independence, Cde Gumbo briefly joined the army and later joined the President’s department where he rose through the ranks to become a senior intelligence officer, a position he held until his death.

He is survived by wife Patience and five children.