Harare — Senior Zanu-PF figure Christopher Mutsvangwa has said liberation war veteran Blessed Geza, who died in exile in South Africa last Friday, should be granted a national hero’s burial, despite his highly publicised political fallout with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Born in 1943 in colonial Rhodesia, Geza was a veteran of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle and later became an influential figure within the ruling ZANU-PF party. After independence in 1980, he transitioned into the security and political spheres, with reports suggesting he served in the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). He later entered Parliament, representing Sanyati, and rose through party ranks to become a member of the ZANU-PF Central Committee, as well as a prom