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Nqobile Tshili, Online writer

HE was bold and single-minded in his pursuit of equality and development.

That is how Alderman Abednico Nyathi has described the late National Hero Joshua Malinga.

Malinga succumbed to prostate cancer last Friday at 79.

He was a special advisor to the President, former Mayor of the City of Bulawayo, and Zanu-PF Politburo member.

Malinga was born on 20 April 1944 in Filabusi. He was born able-bodied and was attacked by Polio at a very young age.

Addressing Mourners during Malinga’s funeral service at the Amphitheatre in Bulawayo, on Thursday, Ald Nyathi said it is difficult to show the full extent of Malinga’s influence and impact on those around him because the late national hero had many friends.

“We became councillors at the same time. At the time it was not easy being a councillor, he was a vibrant man. He stood for council employees who were easily dismissed in case of a misstep,” said Ald Nyathi.

He told mourners that Malinga was bold enough to openly declare he wanted to be mayor, at a time when others harboured the ambition in secret.

Malinga, said Ald Nyathi, made the seemingly impossible happen when he was elected mayor by senior councillors.

His tenure extended between 1993-1996.

“He didn’t hide his interest in being a mayor, at the time I was the provincial chairman. He was nominated by senior councillors that we found in the council. He became the deputy and then the mayor of the city,” said Ald Nyathi.

“He made a lot of changes in the city and we enacted new by-laws that dealt with congestion in the city. We have lost a great man and politically he also showed his ambitions. He became the vice chair of the province and I became uncomfortable,” quipped Ald Nyathi who stressed that Malinga was always development-oriented.