Fletcher Dulini-Ncube laid to rest

BULAWAYO – Movement for Democratic Change founding member Fletcher Dulini-Ncube was buried on Saturday as opposition parties said the pro-democracy movement has lost a great friend.

The tribute was one of many paid to the former Lobengula-Magwegwe MP as his coffin was led to his final resting place at Lady Stanley Cemetery.

Earlier, hundreds of mourners thronged Brethren-In-Christ Church at corner Fort Street and Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue to bid their last respects to a liberation war hero whose credentials were not questionable.

Dulini-Ncube, who died at 71 after a long battle with diabetes, was described as an outstanding figure who stood out for what he believed in.

Sekai Holland, the MDC renewal team leader, described Dulini -Ncube as a disciplinarian.

“I worked with him for a long time and I had grown to appreciate him as a brilliant politician,” she said.

“Dulini was disciplined and a strict disciplinarian himself but a very humble man he was.”

Smaller MDC faction president Welshman Ncube described Dulini-Ncube as one of the finest political minds ever to emerge in Zimbabwe.

At the time of his death, he was the chairperson of the Council of Elders in MDC led by Ncube.

“We are here not to mourn Dulini, but to celebrate his life as a politician,” Ncube said. “His life has been a ritual.

“He was a principled man. I have worked with so many people in and out of politics and I can say without fear of contradiction that he was the most principled and equally dependable person I have ever worked with. He is one of the finest political minds I have known. His instinct for politics was second to none. As a result, we used to rely on him for political advice.” Ncube said.

He also received tributes from MDC treasurer-general Paul Themba Nyathi and Zapu’s alternate secretary-general Strike Mkandla.

In 2002, Dulini-Ncube was arrested together with other MDC activists Remember Moyo and Khethani Sibanda, Nicholas Masera, Army Zulu, and Sazini Mpofu after they were falsely accused of murdering Zanu PF activist and chairman of the Bulawayo Province of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWA), Cain Nkala.

All the six MDC officials were later acquitted.

The prolonged incarceration took a toll on Dulini-Ncube’s health. A decade later, Ncube went completely blind due to the effects of torture and medical deprivation during his incarceration.

Dulini-Ncube is survived by his wife, May, three children and four grandchildren. Daily News