Ailing Zimbabwe liberation war hero and intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa has died. He was 79.

Recently, Dabengwa had been in and out hospital, with reports saying he was suffering from liver disease. His family said he passed on in Nairobi, Kenya, while on his way back to Zimbabwe from India, where he was receiving medical treatment.

The African News Agency (ANA) understands that his doctor had indicated he would not make it beyond a week, and his family had requested that he be flown back home.

In the run-up to last year’s elections, Dabengwa actively supported MDC leader Nelson Chamisa’s campaign, with his party Zapu having joined the MDC Alliance.

Dabengwa, a former intelligence chief of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Party (ZIPRA) during the liberation war, walked out of Zanu PF in 2009. At the same time he withdrew Zapu from a unity pact signed with Zanu PF in 1987.

After independence, in 1980, the ZIPRA supremo was detained for years by the government of then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe until a Unity Accord was signed between the government and Zapu.

Two years ago, the liberation war hero unveiled his "Dumiso Dabengwa Foundation", a non-profit organisation that seeks to, among other things, push for restorative justice for the Gukurahundi massacre and political violence victims in the country since 1980.