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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
VETERAN journalist and former Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (Zuj) president, Dumisani Sibanda, who was found dead at his home in Bulawayo on Monday morning, suffered a stroke in his sleep, his family revealed yesterday.
Sibanda, a former Chronicle Political Editor, Sunday News News Editor, NewsDay Southern Edition Bureau Chief and Zimbabwe Mail Bulawayo Bureau Chief, was found dead at his home in Emakhandeni suburb at around 8am.
He was 44.
Family spokesperson and Sibanda’s aunt, Mrs Sehlaphi Moyo said:
“We’re greatly pained by Dumisani’s death. It shocked the entire family and we’re still trying to get to grips with his untimely death. I couldn’t believe it myself until I saw his body at the mortuary.”
She said Sibanda’s burial was tentatively set for Friday in Bulawayo but the final details would be released in due course.
Yesterday, condolence messages from Government officials, fellow journalists and the community at large continued to pour in following Sibanda’s death.
The Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Supa Mandiwanzira, who was Sibanda’s classmate at the Harare Polytechnic said: “I’m shocked and saddened by the loss of Dumisani Sibanda. He was a jovial character. He was my classmate at the Harare Polytechnic where we studied journalism and we shared the same hostel. He was full of fun, loved his drink then and never picked a fight with anyone,” he said.
“I’m personally at a loss for words over the loss of a good man. I wish to express my deepest condolences to his family, the media fraternity especially those he worked with at the Sunday News. May his soul rest in peace.”
The Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane also posted his condolence message on Twitter saying, “My profound sympathies go to the Sibanda family. Media is robbed. What a man. Gone rather too soon man.”
The Chronicle Acting Editor Innocent Madonko posted on Facebook, “The journalism profession today is poorer following the sudden death of Dumisani “Sobohla Manyosi” Sibanda, a jovial and fine gentleman who has been taken away in his prime.
“He was a mentor to young journalists and a fountain of wisdom to his colleagues. I personally worked with him here at the Chronicle for a long time. Even when he left us to join AMH and the Zim Mail, we kept in touch. He was a big man with a big heart. Rest in Peace Dummy, Sobohla, Scorpion, Dispol.”
The Financial Gazette’s former news editor Ranga Mberi also posted, “Such sad news. A quality gentleman,” in reference to Sibanda.
NewsDay deputy editor Nqaba Matshazi, who once worked with Sibanda at the Chronicle, described the death of Sibanda as “desperately saddening.”
On Monday, Zuj’s secretary general Foster Dongozi said Sibanda’s death was a blow to the media industry describing the journalist as a formidable trade unionist, a human and workers rights defender.
Sunday News Editor Limukani Ncube described Sibanda as a shrewd journalist who served the media industry with due diligence saying the profession has been robbed through his death.
Sibanda, the first and only Zuj president from the southern region, was born in Bulawayo on August 31, 1972 and attended Mtshede Primary in Njube suburb from 1978 to 1985.
He then attended Cyrene Boys High School from Form 1 to Upper Sixth from 1986 to 1991 before enrolling at the Harare Polytechnic College where he studied journalism.
He is survived by a son.
Mourners are gathered at House Number 70463 Lobengula Extension in Bulawayo.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo