Chitepo dies…President mourns Zanu-PF Central Committee member

President Robert Mugabe has mourned Zanu-PF Central Committee member, Cde Victoria Fikile Chitepo, who died in Harare yesterday morning. Cde Chitepo, 88, was wife to the late national hero and former Zanu-PF chairman, Advocate Herbert Chitepo. She was found dead yesterday morning by her granddaughter at her Mount Pleasant home.

Breaking the news to the Zanu-PF Central Committee members, President Mugabe described Cde Chitepo as a staunch member whose contributions during and after the liberation struggle were beyond reproach.

“I’ve received sad news that Mai Chitepo is no more and the circumstances are not yet clearly defined to us but from what we’ve heard so far she was preparing to come to this meeting.

“Apparently all this happened when she was alone but when her granddaughter drove to the house so she could bring her to this meeting, she found her dead. Everyone knows the role she has played during and after her husband’s death and right up to now she has been one of us here. One of us politically, one of us intellectually, even physically and among women, all of us, she was known as a staunch member. Her loss is a severe loss to all of us. As we await the full story of what happened let’s pay tribute to her with a minute of silence.”

Cde Chitepo’s daughter Dr Thokozile Chitepo, confirmed the death, saying her mother had been well despite a hip replacement operation.

“Between 10AM and 10.30AM, her granddaughter came to pick her up for a Central Committee meeting at the Zanu-PF headquarters,” she said.

“She didn’t find her and proceeded to her bedroom where she found her fallen by her bed. She was already dead. Because of her old age, doctors were monitoring her heart condition after that hip replacement.”

Dr Chitepo, who is also secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, said doctors were still to establish the cause of her death.

“She had no hypertension neither was she diabetic,” she said.

“But as a cautionary measure, doctors were just monitoring her heart condition after that operation”.

She described her mother as loving and a unifier who will be greatly missed.

Born on March 27, 1928, in South Africa, Cde Chitepo was a teacher by profession.

She married Cde Herbert Chitepo in Durban on November 29, 1955.

During the liberation struggle, inspired by her husband, she organised women to march in protest and co-ordinated care for detainees who were in prisons in places such as Marondera and Sikhombela.

After independence Cde Chitepo was one of the three female ministers in Independent Zimbabwe as Deputy Minister for Education and Culture (1980-1982).

She served as Minister of National Resources and Tourism (1982-1990), Minister for Information, Posts and Telecommunications and Minister of Local Government (1990-1992).

She was once a Member of Parliament in Manicaland’s Mutasa and Buhera West constituencies between 1980 and 1995.

Cde Chitepo was United Nations eminent person and special advisor to United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali on the preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women (1994-1995).

She was Women Voters’ Association of Zimbabwe chairperson in 1995 and was appointed a member of the Commonwealth observer group of the Kenyan elections in 1992.

The late Cde Chitepo was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Mission to South Africa (Comsa III) in 1993 replacing Justice Simbi Mubako.

She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Tourism and Hospitality Management degree for her contribution to national development by Midlands State University in 2010.

Cde Chitepo is survived by four children and grandchildren.

Mourners are gathered at Number 38 Quorn Avenue, Mount Pleasant.

Meanwhile, War veteran and former member of the National Assembly and Senator, Cde Vivian Mwashita, has died.

She was 58.

Family spokesperson Grace Muponda confirmed the death, saying Cde Mwashita who was diabetic, died early yesterday at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare.

She said Cde Mwashita had recently suffered a stroke.

Cde Mwashita joined the liberation struggle in 1975 and after training she was deployed in Rushinga where she operated until the end of the war.

At Independence, Cde Mwashita joined the Office of the President and later mainstream politics and became the Member of Parliament for Sunningdale, and later Senator.

She leaves behind three children and six grandchildren.

Burial arrangements will be announced in due course and mourners are gathered at House Number 17654, New Camborne in Harare. — Harare Bureau-ZBC.