William Tagwirei Bango, a veteran journalist and former spokesperson to MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, died in a car crash late yesterday afternoon near Dema growth point in Seke.
He was taken to Chitungwiza General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Bango joined the office of the MDC President in 2002 as the Presidential spokesperson until 2008, when he was reassigned to head the policy unit. Bango was a former president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists.
Last night Tsvangirai paid his condolences to the Bango family at their home in Marlborough. Tsvangirai said Bango had served the nation and the party “with distinction, competence and unstinting loyalty.”
Bango wrote Tsvangirai’s biography, At The Deep End, a personal story of the MDC President highlighting his trials and tribulations in pursuit of freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.
In 2007, Bango was viciously assaulted at Machipisa Police Station together with Tsvangirai and other political and civic leaders after the disruption of a prayer meeting. He suffered permanent injuries inflicted while inside a police station.
“Popularly known by his totem of “Nungu”, Bango left an indelible national mark on three fronts; as a hero of the liberation struggle, a one-time national leader of the journalism fraternity and as a hero of the post-liberation struggle for real change and democracy,” Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said.
Bango is survived by his wife, Charity, a councilor in Harare, four children and several grandchildren. Mourners are gathered at the Bango residence at 48 Adyllin Road, Marlborough and funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
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