Late Robert Mugabe, as AU Chairperson, meets President Salva Kiir in Addis Ababa in 2015.

The ruling SPLM party has described late Zimbabwean former president Robert Mugabe as hero for Africa and South Sudan.

Former president Robert Mugabe died today at the age of 95.

He had been receiving treatment in a hospital in Singapore since April. He was ousted in a military coup in 2017 after 37 years in power.

The former president was praised for broadening access to health and education for the black majority.

He was born on 21 February 1924, in what was then Rhodesia.

Uncle Bob, as people used to call him, was imprisoned for more than a decade without trial after criticizing the government of Rhodesia in 1964.

The acting secretary of the SPLM told Eye Radio that the SPLM acknowledges the role he played during the liberation struggle.

“I want to convey my sincere condolences on behalf of the SPLM leadership and on behalf of the entire membership of the SPLM and SPLM national headquarters in Juba. First of all comrade Robert Mugabe His Excellency to us is a hero for Africa and hero for us as South Sudan because the role he played in supporting not only the liberation movement in South Sudan but his support for all the liberation movements in Africa.”

Many African countries have sent their condolence messages to Zimbabwe with the government of South Africa labeling Mugabe “a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter”.