President Mnangagwa mourns first black Advocate Sibanda

Harare (New Ziana)-President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday described the late Advocate Siwanda Kennedy Mbuso Sibanda as one of the leading veterans of the liberation struggle.
Advocate Sibanda (89) who died in South Africa, was laid to rest in the neighbouring country on Thursday.
In a condolence message, President Mnangagwa said ranking among an early crop of black legal practitioners in the then Rhodesia, Advocate SKM Sibanda will forever be remembered for saving the lives of many captured guerrillas through free legal representation.
“He would make it his mission to locate these condemned cadres and nationalists from secretive Rhodesian dungeons in order to avail legal defense, often pro bono,” he said. 

President Mnangagwa said he had the privilege of working closely with late Advocate Sibanda who was part of the Patriotic Front legal team as they put together the framework for the Lancaster House Agreement which enabled political settlement and delivered Independence in 1980.
“He was a fine legal mind who knew how to use his legal skills towards the defense of captured cadres and detained nationalists, thus furthering the ideals of our National Liberation Struggle.
” After Independence and as then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, I would again work closely with him as a member of our Bench which he served with characteristic integrity and honour. Both before and after his stint on the Bench and on a number of Commissions Advocate Sibanda mentored many young lawyers into professional adulthood, ” said the President. 

New Ziana