Businessman Musariri dies

sectors of the economy. His son, Tobias (Jnr), said his father was one of the early black businessmen that supported the liberation war.
“Cde Musariri was among the early black businessmen to risk their lives and all they had built with their own hands by supporting the liberation struggle materially and financially,” he said.
Tobias (Jnr) said his father worked with the likes of Roger Boka, Ben Mucheche, Chidziva and the Machipisa brothers among others.
He said his father was also a proponent of black economic empowerment and had distinguished himself in various fields that include farming, tourism and the motor industry.
The businessman was instrumental in recruiting and transporting youths to join the liberation struggle in the 1970s. He was a founder member of the Zanu-PF            Marimba branch co-ordinating with Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He also provided clothes, boots, blankets, watches and food for the freedom fighters, transporting same under stock feed in his truck to Binga Ranch Farm, Wiltshire and Mutekedza area in Chivhu where the freedom fighters would collect the supplies.
In 1978 he was arrested and detained at Mbare Police Station for his political activities while his wife Balbina was detained at Southerton Police Station.
Cde Musariri served as a councillor for Marimba Park soon after independence under the leadership of Harare’s first black mayor Dr Tizirayi Gwata.
He chaired the Zimbabwe Development Corporation and Zimasco in the 1980s.
He was born on September 9, 1938 and is survived by two wives and several children.
Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
Mourners are gathered at number 178 Bubye Road, Marimba Park, in Harare.