Ambassador Chideya laid to rest

Memorial Park in Harare.
He was 67.
The envoy was husband to Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Canada Mrs Florence Chideya. A church service in honour of the diplomat was held at the University of Zimbabwe before his body was taken for burial.
Among key speakers at the church service was the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda.
Dr Sibanda is a longtime friend of the Chideya family. The burial was attended by Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha.
A family spokesperson said the diplomat received a befitting send off.
The late diplomat was Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to the Nordic countries that cover Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Ambassador Chideya was born in 1944 in Mazowe and completed his secondary education through private studies in 1964.
He went to the United States where he studied for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography, attained a Masters in Educational Administration and a Doctorate in Higher Education at the State University of New York between 1970 and 1976.
He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990 as a deputy secretary before being appointed ambassador to the Nordic countries and later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1993.
Ambassador Chideya returned home in 1999 and was appointed head of the special information unity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In September the same year, he was appointed director for Europe and the Americas. Ambassador Chideya was in 2001 appointed divisional head of protocol, legal and consular affairs. He held several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before retiring in 2004. Ambassador Chideya is survived by his wife Florence and two children.