HARARE – The widow of liberation war icon and national hero Chief Rekayi Tangwena, Ambuya Matadzisei (82), has died. Ambuya Matadzisei succumbed to a heart ailment at Parirenyatwa Hospital yesterday morning.
Ambuya Tangwena was transferred from Rusape Hospital to Parirenyatwa Hospital with a heart problem. Her body is now at Doves Funeral Services and will be buried at her rural home in Nyafaru at a date to be advised.
It’s believed she will be accorded a State-assisted funeral. She had two children, son Elijah who is now late, daughter Joice, and many grandchildren.
Ambuya Matadzisei was a spirit medium and during the liberation struggle she instructed her husband Chief Tangwena to guide President Robert Mugabe and the late Edgar Tekere to cross into Mozambique.
Ambuya Tangwena and her husband, Chief Tangwena, are famed for resisting eviction from their lands after the racist Land Apportionment Act was passed by the Rhodesian regime.
Ambuya Matadzisei, together with her husband, who was an opponent of the Smith regime, made history during the colonial era when in 1964 they led the Tangwena people to resist orders to move from the Gaeresi area to Gokwe in the Midlands.
Chief Tangwena was told by the Rhodesian Front regime that he had forfeited his chieftainship for refusing to take orders. Following several raids, arrests of elders, destruction of property and houses, the Tangwena people moved to Mozambique in 1975 to join the liberation struggle.
Chief Tangwena and his people returned into the country at independence and he was appointed Senator.
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