Former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, played a pivotal and leading role in negotiations with neighbouring South Africa to regularise the status of undocumented Zimbabweans during his tenure as Ambassador in 2010, according to Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Judith Ncube.
Cde Mphoko died in India last Friday, where he had gone to seek medical attention.
He had not been well for some time.
President Mnangagwa declared the late Vice-President a national hero.
In 2010, South Africa introduced the Dispensation Zimbabwe Programme (DZP) to regularise the status of undocumented Zimbabweans.
The DZP provided humanitarian relief, allowing migrants to work, study, and conduct business in South Africa.
The DZP was valid from January 2010 to December 2014.
"When uBaba Mphoko was the Ambassador of Zimbabwe to South Africa, he was touched by the plight of our children who worked in South Africa without proper documentation. The undocumented status meant our children were victims of xenophobic attacks, and the late former Vice-President used his role as the Ambassador to convince the South Africans to regularise the stay of Zimbabweans in that country," said Minister Ncube.
She was speaking to mourners at the home of the late Vice-President in Douglasdale suburb recently.
The former diplomat was appointed ambassador to South Africa in 2010 and Vice-President from 2014 until 2017.
Before that, he had served as ambassador to Russia and Botswana.
Minister Ncube said she last interacted with Cde Mphoko during the Zanu-PF's People Conference that was hosted by Bulawayo Province in October.
"I noticed that he had lost a bit of weight, but he was otherwise okay," she said.
Minister Ncube said the last quarter of 2024 had been a difficult period for the people of Bulawayo and the southern region, after three prominent figures passed away.
"First it was Cde Tshinga Dube who passed away, and before our tears had even dried, we lost Mr Pathisa Nyathi, and now our dear leader and confidante, uBaba Mphoko, is gone."
Minister of Matabeleland South for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Dr Evelyne Ndlovu, said Cde Mphoko left the country to join the liberation struggle when he could no longer stomach the unjust treatment of black Zimbabweans by white minority settlers.
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"It's unfortunate that he passed away without writing a book on how cruel the white settlers were and how their treatment of black Zimbabweans forced us to leave our country and join the liberation war. I personally had an encounter with a white man who kicked me out of his shop in the Bulawayo city centre and told me that the outlet was for white people. I was to go and shop at Lobengula Street because that's where black Zimbabweans belonged."
Minister Ndlovu said the country had lost a great leader who always took his time to mentor others.
