Online Reporter
Mbulelo Mpofu, [email protected]
THE arts fraternity was plunged into mourning following the death of two of its distinctive figures, literary matriarch Ericah Gwetai and Western Khazins founder Archibald “Father K” Mumbamarwo, who were on Monday laid to rest in Bulawayo and Harare respectively.
Hordes of mourners gathered at Umvutsha Park Cemetery to bid farewell to Mrs Gwetai, bringing to an end an emotional few days for the literary and wider arts community.
In Harare hundreds of mourners paid their last respects to Mumbamarwo, founder of Western Khazins who died on Saturday after a long illness.
While their creative paths and fields were different, both departures left behind communities of artists, writers, cultural practitioners and admirers reflecting on lives that had become intertwined with Zimbabwe’s creative landscape.
For Gwetai, the farewell was particularly poignant as friends and colleagues remembered not only an accomplished writer, but a woman whose warmth and infectious personality often made her presence felt wherever artists gathered.
Her eulogy, delivered at a memorial service at the Anglican Church of Ascension in Bulawayo, repeatedly returned to one defining quality – her ability to make people feel at home.
She was remembered as jovial, loving, funny and fun to be around, a woman who could spare time to talk to virtually anyone she encountered.
For those who knew her closely, however, the loss went beyond the literary world.
Fellow author Philani Amadeus Nyoni described her as, “Mama”, a name that captured the maternal role she played in the lives of many younger creatives.
“I always called Mrs Gwetai Mama, and she was that to many of us; so full of love and warmth, with the kind patience that must have served her well in her teaching promotion,” Nyoni said.
He recalled first meeting Gwetai at the launch of her first work of fiction during the Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo, where he had been asked by her publisher to read an excerpt from the book.
“I first met her at the launch of her first work of fiction during the Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo, when her publisher asked me to read an excerpt from her book. Fate has a way of bringing people together, I am grateful for that day, it brought an astonishing individual into my life, hers was a friendship I will treasure for the rest of my days,” he said.Gwetai’s affection for those around her also found its way into her fiction.
Nyoni said she would later name characters after him and other people in her circle, including visual artist Owen Maseko and filmmaker, Priscilla Sithole-Ncube.
“Later, she would name a character after me, a few others after Owen Maseko and Priscilla Sithole among others. That was one way she showed her immense love for the people around her,” he said.
For Nyoni, perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of Gwetai’s story was the way she turned personal tragedy into a literary journey.
He noted that she only embarked on writing after the death of her daughter, renowned author Dr Yvonne Vera.
“In a way she turned a great personal tragedy into a career of her own and that reminds me to always remember why I write,” he said.
Gwetai, however, was never comfortable being reduced to being Vera’s mother.
She detested being treated as a shadow of her celebrated daughter and was equally opposed to what she regarded as ageism.
“Mbulelo, angisogogo mina,” she would often tell me, insisting that she was not a grandmother simply because of her age.
On other occasions, she would jokingly challenge: “Wake wabona ugogo oqine njengami so?”
Those who visited her home encountered the same irrepressible personality – often being offered cupcakes while she proudly displayed clothes she had sewn herself.
At the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in Bulawayo, where she was a familiar figure, her absence could also be felt.
Regional director Silenkosi Moyo described her death as a major loss to the arts sector, recalling she was a woman who knew gallery staff by name and regularly arrived with jokes, warmth and handmade outfits.
“The loss of Mrs Gwetai is a huge loss to the arts sector. We have lost an avid author and mother who was present in a lot of events, always jovial making us all laugh. She knew each one of us by name as gallery staff members and always greeted us with love and jokes whenever she came to the gallery,” Moyo said.
Moyo also remembered the support Gwetai offered when she was appointed regional director.
“When I was appointed as the Regional Director, Mrs Gwetai and Priscilla Sithole-Ncube came to my office to offer congratulations and support. She said, ‘I wish you well and success my daughter.
If you need anything sikhona thina omama bakho,’” she recalled.
“We will miss her smile, energy, personal hand-made clothes ayesigwabisela zona egallery.”
Playwright Raisedon Baya, another creative who worked with Gwetai on several occasions, said their relationship had developed into one resembling that of mother and son, although she playfully resisted the title.
“I’m one of the people she just loved. I was her son and since my days contributing to Sunday News through a column, we had become friends and she would sometimes complain when I called her, ‘mother.’ She said that would be ageism and would rather me call her by her first name, ‘Ericah,’” Baya said.
“It’s a sad moment for myself and the scribes that worked with her.”
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) programmes officer William Nyandoro similarly remembered Gwetai as a maternal presence in his life.
“She was full of love. Always there to guide, criticize, and to provide love. A big loss to the literary arts and the arts at large. Lala kuhle Mama,” he said.
Even in her final years, Gwetai remained creatively active.
At the time of her death, she was working on her eighth title, a project centred on the games she used to play with her peers.
Her death has therefore come at a time when she was still looking towards another chapter in her literary career.
She is survived by her son, Tafadzwa Gwetai.
As Bulawayo’s literary fraternity gathered around Gwetai’s family, Harare was simultaneously bidding farewell to another creative force.
Mumbamarwo, affectionately known as Father K, died in Harare on Saturday after a long illness.
He was the founder of Western Khazins, an entity whose name became associated with his contribution to Zimbabwe’s creative and cultural landscape.
His death adds another sombre note to what has been a difficult period for the country’s arts community, with creatives mourning the loss of personalities who occupied distinct spaces within the industry.
For those mourning Gwetai, the most enduring memories may not necessarily be of book launches, literary events or the manuscripts she was working on, but of the small, human moments that defined her.
The jokes. The handmade clothes. The cupcakes. The spontaneous conversations.
The insistence that she was not simply someone’s grandmother or famous author’s mother.
She was Ericah.
And as the mourners at Umvutsha Park Cemetery said their final goodbyes on Monday, that individuality was perhaps the most fitting tribute to a woman who carved out a literary identity of her own.
For the wider arts community, the deaths of Gwetai and Father K represent two more reminders of the personalities whose work and presence have helped shape Zimbabwe’s creative story.
Their physical absence will now be measured against the memories, relationships and creative footprints they leave behind. – Follow on X @MbuleloMpofu
