Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube [email protected]

A SENIOR Zanu-PF member and prominent figure in Victoria Falls, Cde Caleb Mabhena has died at the age of 78, his family confirmed.

His death comes barely four months after his wife’s death.

In a statement, the family said Cde Mabhena, a long time employee at the now defunct United Touring Company from where he retired in 2003, passed on in Victoria Falls after falling ill for some months.

Cde Mabhena, a war collaborator who helped freedom fighters cross into Botswana and Zambia and was chair of the local receiving Committee after ceasefire, was instrumental in the execution of the war of liberation around Victoria Falls,  where his home is in Chidobe.

“He passed on and as a person who believed in resurrection and the second coming of Jesus Christ,  we believe that he slept in Jesus as per his faith,” said the family in a statement.

Burial is expected tomorrow on Good Friday.

Cde Mabhena was born on 9 December 1946 to the late Folo Mabhena and Lina Sibanda in Sogwala, near Lower Gwelu in the Midlands.

He relocated to Chidobe as a young boy when his village was displaced by the Rhodesian Government.

He worked for one company UTC in his career life after joining it as a driver in 1967, two years after he became actively involved in politics as a PF Zapu member.

At UTC he rose through the ranks to become manager for the company’s subsidiary Hertz-Rent-A-Car .

He took an early retirement in 2003 and relocated to his rural home in Chidobe until a time when he became ill and moved back to Victoria Falls.

He became involved in politics in 1965 when he was 19 years old.

As an active Zapu member, he was involved in helping freedom fighter cross into Botswana and Zambia and became chair of the local receiving Committee after ceasefire and was contact person for all returning freedom fighters.

He was Councillor for Ward 8 in Victoria Falls for three terms.

After the 1987 Unity  Accord, he became a Zanu-PF member until his death.

He was also a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, his family said.