The opposition ZAPU party has criticized the ZANU PF-led government for not granting the late former Senator and Bulawayo Metropolitan Minister Eunice Sandi Moyo national heroine status. Sandi Moyo passed away at 78 on May 16 at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo, where she was receiving treatment for hypertension.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa authorized a state-assisted burial for Sandi Moyo, falling short of the national heroine status many believed she deserved.
During her memorial service at the Bulawayo Amphitheatre on Wednesday, ZAPU Secretary General Mthulisi Hanana expressed his disapproval. Before Sandi Moyo's burial at Lady Stanley Cemetery, Hanana urged former ZAPU members within ZANU PF to return to their original party.
"She was there in Zambia, at Lancaster House, she was there during Gukurahundi, she was there. She was in government all for what? I doubt that this is the Zimbabwe she envisaged. This snub by the ZANU PF government makes our call, yokuthi bantwana bantwana wozani ekhaya (come back to ZAPU), more relevant."
Hanana emphasized that Sandi Moyo's contributions to the government and the ruling party warranted national heroine status. He asserted that she would be honoured appropriately once ZANU PF is ousted from power.
Sandi Moyo's uncle, Monti Malunguza, representing the Masola Ndlovu family, echoed Hanana's sentiments. He stated:
"We are also grateful to the government for according to her a state-assisted funeral, however, let me hasten and say we are a little bit disappointed because the role she played pre and post-independence deserved a better recognition than a mere state-assisted funeral. We know lesser individuals who have been accorded a higher role than her. Anyway, that doesn't dilute the fact that she is a hero. She is a hero, mainly throughout the breadth and length of this country, people accept that she played a role and we are grateful for that."
Malunguza also thanked the City of Bulawayo for providing Sandi Moyo a burial site at Lady Stanley Cemetery, reserved for individuals with significant impact on the city. He added:
"We are as a family grateful to the City of Bulawayo through his worship, the mayor David Coltart and the management led by Christopher Dube for recognizing her role in according her a place of burial at Lady Stanley Cemetery, a place reserved for individuals who have had a positive impact in the lives and stature of the City of Bulawayo."
Minister of Women's Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Monica Mutsvanga, who paid her respects last Saturday, noted Sandi Moyo's influential role in shaping many current politicians.
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In 2016, Sandi Moyo's relationship with ZANU PF soured following accusations of her allegiance to a faction led by then-former Vice President Joice Mujuru, allegedly plotting to unseat former President Robert Mugabe. Her troubles escalated in 2017 when the ZANU PF Women's League demanded her removal, accusing her of undermining then-First Lady Grace Mugabe's authority. Sandi Moyo was eventually expelled from the party and lost her parliamentary seat in January 2018 due to alleged ties to the G40 faction.
Subsequently, in 2018, she became one of the founding members of the National Patriotic Front (NPF), a group formed by loyalists of Mugabe following his ousting in a military coup.
