Tendai Ruben Mbofana
The announcement that Sydney Gata has been declared a national hero by the Mnangagwa administration is one of those developments that evoke shock without surprise.
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In today’s Zimbabwe, the elevation of those close to the corridors of power, irrespective of their checkered pasts, is no longer a matter of merit or legacy, but rather of proximity, loyalty, and political utility.
The declaration of national hero status on Gata, who has over the years become synonymous with scandal and mismanagement at Zimbabwe’s power utility, ZESA, is emblematic of how the once-venerated Heroes Acre has been reduced to a monument of political patronage and moral decline.
This is a place that used to carry profound meaning for many Zimbabweans, symbolizing the sacrifice and courage of those who selflessly fought for national liberation.
Names such as Josiah Magama Tongogara, Herbert Chitepo, Sally Mugabe, Jason Moyo, and George Silundika were inscribed into our national conscience as true patriots.
These were people whose legacies inspired reverence and whose commitment to Zimbabwe was never in doubt.
Today, that sacred status has been eroded by the inclusion of individuals whose records do not even remotely align with national service or exemplary conduct.
That is why genuine liberation war icons such as Dumiso Dabengwa, Tshinga Dube, and even former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko opted out of being buried at the National Heroes Acre.
They could not allow their final resting place to be shared with the politically connected and morally tainted.
In what world does Sydney Gata, a man whose tenure at ZESA has been dogged by decades of corruption allegations, qualify as a national hero?
While it would be unfair and dishonest to lay the entirety of Zimbabwe’s electricity crisis at his feet, there is no escaping the reality that his leadership has left a deep stain on the power utility and contributed immensely to its dysfunction.
Zimbabweans have endured years of agonizing power outages, lost business revenue, and household suffering due to erratic electricity supply.
Behind this suffering lies a long trail of mismanagement, abuse of authority, and corruption—much of it allegedly orchestrated or enabled under Gata’s watch.
Gata’s saga with ZESA is not new.
His troubled leadership dates back to his first tenure as General Manager of the then Electricity Supply Commission.
In 1991, he was dismissed following damning findings by a commission of inquiry led by Justice George Smith, which exposed serious mismanagement and recommended his dismissal.
The report painted a picture of a man unfit to lead, devoid of the required leadership and operational integrity to oversee a vital national institution.
And yet, as has become typical in Zimbabwe’s culture of recycled leadership, Gata found his way back into ZESA’s top ranks—again and again—regardless of the baggage he carried.
Over the years, Gata’s name became inseparable from numerous controversies.
In 2003, the trustees of the ZESA pension fund opened an investigation into allegations raised by the Zimbabwe Electricity Energy Workers’ Union (ZEEWU) that Gata had permitted a privileged clique of senior managers to illegally tap into the pension fund.
In 2005, tensions boiled over when staff protested at ZESA’s headquarters, demanding his resignation.
That same year, employees at ZESA Enterprises, a ZESA subsidiary, wrote directly to then Energy Minister Mike Nyambuya, accusing Gata of abusing company resources by deploying manpower and equipment to set up an irrigation project at his private farms—Rupise and Mutema Taona—in Chipinge.
One of the most damning reports against him came from Charles Nhova of the ZESA Independent Audit Committee.
It detailed how Gata had unilaterally manipulated board minutes to fraudulently give the appearance of board support for a deal with WorldTel—a telecommunications company with which he was allegedly personally affiliated.
According to the Nhova report, Gata “deliberately and peremptorily misled the Honourable Minister” and pursued the deal without board consent, acting unilaterally and in defiance of governance protocols.
For this and related misconduct, Gata was again dismissed in 2006—only to make yet another return in later years.
Perhaps one of the most shocking episodes was Gata’s creation of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Investment Trust (ZESIT), a body accused of engaging in murky deals, including mining activities and the appropriation of ZESA projects under suspicious terms.
ZESIT was widely viewed as a front for circumventing institutional oversight and rerouting public resources for private gain.
The magnitude of the alleged abuse triggered a full-scale investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), leading to the suspension of Gata and the entire ZESA board in 2020 by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to facilitate the probe.
Allegations included the misappropriation of over US$10 million for extravagant company Christmas parties, paying staff at his private company using state funds, and using ZESA vehicles for personal use.
Despite the gravity of these accusations, Gata was later cleared by ZACC under circumstances viewed by many as deeply suspicious.
This “clearance” was widely seen as politically motivated, designed to protect a politically connected figure rather than deliver justice or restore institutional integrity.
How, then, does a man with such a background become a national hero?
The answer lies not in national service, but in political alignment.
Gata is not just a veteran of ZESA; he is deeply embedded within the political elite.
He was previously married to Ntombana Regina Mugabe, the late Robert Mugabe’s sister, which made him the former president’s brother-in-law.
Although their marriage formally ended in divorce in 2022 after decades of separation, this familial connection had long placed Gata within the inner circles of Zimbabwe’s post-independence political elite, further entrenching his influence within key public institutions.
His wife, Angeline Gata, is currently a deputy minister.
Media reports have suggested close familial ties between his spouse and individuals within Zimbabwe’s political elite.
Such family networks often play a significant role in the country’s political and power structures.
If these connections are true, they paint a clear picture of why Gata, despite an appalling record of public leadership, has been rewarded instead of reprimanded.
In a nation that has normalized impunity and rewards failure so long as it is loyal, Gata’s national hero status is not an aberration but a continuation of a dangerous trend.
It is a trend where national recognition is no longer earned by service or sacrifice, but conferred as a form of political validation.
It is a betrayal of the values that underpinned Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
It is a slap in the face of every honest and hardworking Zimbabwean who has suffered the indignity of darkness, who has watched businesses collapse, food spoil, machinery rust, and dreams die in the absence of electricity.
Sydney Gata may have passed on, but the symbolism of declaring him a hero will haunt our national conscience for years.
Yes, our culture says ‘wafa wanaka’—we must not speak ill of the dead—but when the legacy of the departed has national consequences, silence becomes complicity.
The truth must be told, no matter how uncomfortable.
It is a stark reminder of how far we have strayed as a nation, where the line between infamy and honor has been deliberately blurred.
In the eyes of the regime, loyalty and connections trump principle and public accountability.
But in the eyes of ordinary Zimbabweans, who continue to suffer in the dark—both literally and figuratively—this decision confirms what we have long known: that Zimbabwe’s so-called Heroes Acre has become less a resting place of greatness and more a monument to betrayal.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/