From hero to ‘rebel’, Blessed Geza’s lonely last journey as an outcast 

AS Blessed “Bombshell” Geza was interred in Sanyati, the rural earth welcomed into its belly an illustrious liberation fighter.

A freedom fighter whose later stages of life were marked by abandonment by his erstwhile colleagues, a betrayal of the liberation ethos.

His militant confrontation of state capture by a clique of wealthy businessmen, corruption and attempts to amend the constitution turned Geza into an effigy of a rebel in the eyes of ZANU PF officials.

On March 6 2025, Patrick Chinamasa read Geza’s ZANU PF career epitaph, signalling an end to a relationship forged in the liberation struggle that had turned frosty after a sustained confrontation against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s governance.

When he made his final 229-kilometre trek from Harare to Sanyati, his remains had to circumvent a nearly impassable road to the rural village, the daily frustration of the village folk.

Geza’s lifeless body lay in state in indignity after his home was reduced to a shell following a bombing last year.

Former opposition legislator Tendai Biti said the arson attack on Geza’s house was diabolical to the war veteran.

“I have seen the house. I have toured the house. It is a 12-room house that was destroyed, obviously by ZANU PF thugs. For anyone to find the courage to drive through such a horrible road to come and do evil things like that, you will have to be driven by such malice.

“Such vindictiveness. Such hatred. This is the hatred associated with the DNA of ZANU PF. It is sad that Blessed Geza is one of them.

“He is a liberator, so to do this to your own kin and kith shows that you do not deserve to be where you are. You do not deserve to run this country. You do not deserve to lead the people of Zimbabwe,” said Biti in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com.

Geza’s 12-room house was razed down by fire after an alleged petrol bomb was thrown into his homestead before the protests that he called while in hiding.

WATCH: Late war veteran Blessed Geza’s house which was torched in March last year after he challenged President Emerson Mnangagwa's leadership.

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During the attack on the farm, several houses on the compound had window glass destroyed by unknown assailants.

The indignity that Geza was subjected to in death is in stark contrast to the opulence that Geza’s homestead exuded before the war veteran transformed himself into the face of resistance against the ZANU PF government.

Biti further said that while his burial may have been a low-key event, Geza defended his stance against corruption in government.

“The ZANU PF government may have shunned him. May have shunned this funeral. They were so malicious that they did not even offer any food, any assistance. But the people understand that. Oil and water do not mix. He fought against corruption. He fought against looting,” said Biti.

ZANU PF was tone deaf on the death of Geza, with leaders of the war veterans conspicuous by their absence.

Geza’s online rants against ZANU PF benefactors such as Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Wicknell Chivayo, and Paul Tungwarara might have hit a nerve, as the ruling party never turned its head upon the death of its former Central Committee member.

War veteran Rutendo Muzirwa echoed Geza’s sentiments that the freedom the country is enjoying is economically benefiting the few in ZANU PF.

“Those we left when we went to war are successful. I have not been given what was promised to me. I am earning US$153 as a war veteran. These are some of the issues that were championed by Geza. Independence was not for a select few. We are free but we are all not,” said Muzirwa.

Geza’s latter life, when he was confronting the ZANU PF government, may have clouded his revolutionary credentials, with the party deserting him in death as a rebel.

His brother, Five Geza, said the war veteran, despite having been ejected from the ruling party and being the subject of insults in public, was adamant about not leaving ZANU PF.

“When he was pushed out of ZANU PF, he never took it to heart. He thought it was a phase that would pass. He never betrayed ZANU PF even in death. He never pushed the agenda of ZANU PF,” said Geza.

Geza’s snub by the government has once again brought to the fore the conferment criteria of the national hero status.

The war veteran joins ZANU PF founding members Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema, who were initially denied the national hero status. However, they were conferred the status decades after their deaths.

The president has the authority to grant national hero status, acting on the recommendation of ZANU PF’s politburo.

According to observers, this has disadvantaged people deserving of national hero status.

Biti said the decision on national hero status should not rest in the hands of the leadership of ZANU PF.

“This system of a select few choosing a select few to name them heroes, I think, citizens should have a say about who is a hero and who is not.

“You now have a so-called Heroes Acre where half the people are thugs and people who do not deserve to be there but people know their heroes. Ndabaningi is in Chipinge, Morgan Tsvangirai is in Buhera, Gibson Sibanda is in Bulawayo. People know their heroes,” added Biti.

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