Welshman Mabhena

Mabhena was born in Zinyangeni in Inyathi. His family was ejected from their village of Inyathi by whites who were looking to settle there and were subsequently resettled in Nkayi District.[4]

His early education started at Zinyangeni Primary School from where he enrolled at Inyathi Mission School for his secondary education. After his secondary education, he moved to South Africa and enrolled at Tiger Kloof where he furthered his studies. After his return from South Africa, he became a music teacher at  Inyathi.[4]

Mabhena joined politics and nationalist movement in the 1950s to end white minority rule in the country who had forcefully evicted his family from their village Inyathi to Nkayi during the regime of Ian  Smith. Mabhena was a member of the African National Congress which was led by Joshua Nkomo and later joined ZAPU. Mabhena served as Secretaty General of one of the main liberation parties, Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) which was later polarised due to internal wrangling and merged with Robert Mugabe’s ZANU resulting in a new political party, ZANU-PF in late 1980s.[4]

Mabhena was detained in Wha Wha and Salisbury prisons between 1962 and 1979 and later at Gonakudzingwa. While in prison, Mabhena enrolled for an Advanced level studies and earned a certificate in bookkeeping from the Fellowship of the Association of Certified Bookkeepers of South Africa. After Second Chimurenga war ended and  the country gained independence, Mabhena was elected Chairman of Nkayi Rural District Council Secretary for ZAPU.[4] In 1985, he was elected MP for Nkayi.

In the early 1990s, Mabhena was appointed Governor of Matebeleland North Province and  was re-elected in July 2000. While serving as governor he criticised President Robert Mugabe’s policies and lack of development in Matebeleland  but was labelled a ‘tribalist’ and replaced with Orbet Mpofu. He was informed of his replacement after he had travelled from Bulawayo to Harare where he was to be sworn in. After this, he became less active in ZANU-PF activities sparking rumours that he had defected to opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC but became active in ZANU-PF in 2006 ending speculation of his defection.[4]

Mabhena died in 2010 of diabetes and high blood pressure which he claimed deteriorated during his incarceration at the time of Gukurahundi massacres. Mabhena was buried at Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo instead of National Heroes Acre designated for the burial of citizens conferred with National Hero honour. He had advised his family that he would not want to be buried at National Heroes Acre alongside ZANU-PF officials.[5]