Tarcisius Malan George Silundika was born on 1st March 1929 in Bulilima District, in western Zimbabwe. “TG,” as he was popularly known in political circles, became politically active as a student at Fort Hare University in South Africa the early 1950s where he was later expelled for political activism. He then enrolled in Roma University in neighbouring Lesotho but South African authorities put pressure on Lesotho until he was deported and sent back to Rhodesia. Back home he began organizing protests and leading demonstrations in Salisbury. He became an executive member of the African National Congress (ANC) and subsequently the National Democratic Party (NDP) before they were all banned. When the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) was formed in 1963, TG was sent to Lusaka, Zambia to direct the first stages of the armed struggle and remained in exile for the next 18 years. He returned home in 1980 after the Lancaster House Agreement  and was elected Member of Parliament for Matabeleland South province. He was later appointed to serve in Zimbabwe’s first cabinet as Minister of Roads, Road Traffic, Posts and Telecommunications. Mr Silundika was a member of ZAPU’s Central Committee at the time of his death on April 9, 1981.

TG’s remains are interred at the sacred Zimbabwe national shrine located in Harare where luminaries of the country’s liberation are buried. He is one of a special group of sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who were accorded this ultimate honour for their selfless sacrifice. At the national Heroes Acre, TG is in the company of the likes of the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, Ruth Chinamano, Lookout Masuku, Alfred Nikita Mangena and Willie Musarurwa among others.