Cde Chinx to make history?

By Vasco Chaya

Liberation war musician Dickson Chingaira, aka Cde Chinx, could make history by becoming the first musician to be declared a national hero.

Cde Chinx succumbed to prostate cancer last Friday and died at the age of 62.

By yesterday evening, there was no news on what President Robert Mugabe and his party might agree on with Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Kaya Moyo and Zanu PF Harare provincial chairperson Shadreck Mashayamombe, both still to be briefed of the outcome.

Harare province has written to the politburo, requesting that the war veteran be declared a national hero. Zanu PF is seen bestowing the status on him once the consultations have been completed.

“At the moment, we are still waiting for communication and anticipating, maybe it might come tomorrow (today) because as of now we are still waiting,” Mashayamombe told the Daily News yesterday evening.

Khaya Moyo was also in the dark.

“I am not aware if any decision has been reached. You could try the secretary for administration Cde Ignatius Chombo,” he said.

Chombo could not be immediately reached for comment by the time of going to print.

Family spokesperson Deeds Chingaira, who is Cde Chinx’s son, told the Daily News yesterday they had not been “ordered to stop the burial by the state but all we have is hope that there might be something that might come through.

“We heard that the responsible offices sat today (yesterday) to deliberate on the way forward on burial.”

Deeds said his father’s body is in the custody of a local funeral parlour.

Should Cde Chinx be declared a national hero, he will become the first musician to be accorded the status.

Fellow musician Simon Chimbetu, aka Chopper, was accorded the lesser liberation war hero status.

There have been loud choruses from all sectors of society who feel Cde Chinx deserves the honour as illustrated by his decorated contribution during the war and more so his consistency and unwavering support of Zanu PF post-independence.

Born on September 27, 1955 in the Makoni District of Manicaland, Cde Chinx was unwell for some time before his last breath on Friday at West End Hospital in Harare.

Deeds told the Daily News his father had succumbed to prostate cancer contrary to reports of leukaemia as initially reported.

Chingaira had battled prostate cancer for the past three years or so.

He revealed to the media before his death that he was not aware of what really was the problem; hence ended up in different clinics as well as consulting both prophets and traditional healers in the process. Daily News